Wargames Illustrated Photo Shoot... Wyvern Wargamers

Over at Wyvern Wargamers we had the pleasure of hosting Dan and Neil from Wargames Illustrated at the last club, Dan was looking for a game to compliment a forthcoming article for the Magazine.

I have been reading the magazine since issue 1 and never thought that I would see my stuff in print. 
I won't say too much now, but a great game was had by all and wow what a difference professional lighting and a backdrop make.

Dan had read this blog and we had the game to match his article, it makes this blogging lark worth while and hopefully gets the club some coverage for new members.......

 

You can expect to see the completed article in early FY13.

You can find the club at www.wyvernwargamers.org.uk

Can't wait.

Carey's Blunder - A Zulu War Participation Game.

Sunday saw the first outing of the Evesham Wargames Club Zulu War Participation game at Gloucester Minicon, the inaugural event in Gloucester.

We were keen to put on a game that would give players a feel for Sharp Practice but not tie them up for several hours.

The scenario was simple - Rescue the Prince.....

We made a number of tweaks to the rule set to provide a swift action.

All British players were classed as Bigmen, with the Officers and NCO's able to activate the Troopers.

The chain of command could only go downwards so for example the only person able to activate the prince was the prince himself.

We used the Physique of the Bigmen to record wounds, Captain Carey and Prince Imperial had a Physique of 5, whilst troopers only held a 4.

Alll Zulu's moved on the Zulu Blind Card on 2 Dice plus 3, which made them pretty fast if their card came up.

Before players could mount they had to amass a numerical value of 10.

The gallant band of defenders.

Game 1 - 3 Players.

When you umpire you hope games go a certain way, not this time all plans went out of the window, players hot footed it for the donga, with scant regard for the Prince leaving him their horses and the Zulu scout behind.
Fortunately a group of troopers paused at the entrance to the Kraal and became the target for the Zulu's their combined fre was able to suppress and drive off two small groups of Zulu, driving them into the long grass.
Corporal Grubb and Prince had a narrow escape breaking through the Kraal fence and skirting the outside of the board before reaching the safety of the Donga.
Mean while the scout attempted to hide out behind the Tiffin Tent only to be spotted and swamped by the zulu.
Victory to the British Player.

Game 2 - 4 Players

More of a challenge for the Imperial Players as the Zulu Cards came out early in the deck and a good dice roll brought the Zulu's very close to the Kraal entrance blocking the most direct escape route to the Donga.

Troopers Abel and Le Coq struggled to mount their horses as the Zulu broken in via the back wall of the Kraal, while the Prince was grabbed by a second group of Zulu who narrowly missed dragging him from his horse.

Trooper Rogers was caught trying to flee the camp and was brought down.

Captain Carey attempted to hold the Zulu at bay with the aid of Crp Grubb and Trooper Cochrane but were unable to save Rogers.

Trooper le Coq made it to the lip of the Donga before he secumbed to the stabbing Assegi.
On the right Trooper Rogers attempted to make a break for the Donga but was attacked after steeping to close to the Zulu and becoming the target of a swift Zulu move.

The Prince once again was able to mount and ride for safety.
Victory to the British Player.

Game 3 - 5 Player

Last game of the day and a bunch of chaps from the Cheltenham club stepped up to the plate, what a difference experience makes, Captain Carey calmly stood in the centre of the deserted village and ordered the patrol to mount, the patrol fitted their saddles and rode for the gate, but something was wrong, in the confusion Carey was left behind without a mount and the Zulu's were closing in fast.

Carey maintained his decorum and fought off the Zulu each time they advanced, he was like a man possessed, his herioc actions forced a number of the players to come to his aid, in the attempted rescue Crp Grubb was seriously wounded, Carey stood over him and beat back the Zulu again.
Srgt Willis Rode back into the melee creating a path for Carey to flee through.

Carey and Willis leap frogged each other firing into the Zulu hordes, it was not long before Willis had his horse shot from under him, but he continued in his rear guard action inflicting shock on the Zulu hordes closing in.
Last turn of the game saw Carey and Willis reach the Donga, the Zulu morale was broken and the shock points forced them to ground.

Elsewhere the Prince had headed for the Donga and was half way to Natal before Carey had driven off the Zulu.

Victory to the British Players and VC's for Carey and Willis...

Creating a participation game Part 2

Sunday night saw the first trial game for The Death of Louis, Crown Prince of France, the Evesham Wargames club first venture into participation gaming at a Wargaming show.

I felt it was important to play through the scenario to iron out any issues and to tweak any rules that may be needed, 3 players put their hand up for a game two of which had limited exposure to the Too Fat Lardies Rule Set, which made it far easier to replicate a show enviroment.

I had earlier posted a couple of question on the Colonial Wars Yahoo group which unfortunately prompted a response from Tim at the Staines Club.

http://staineswargamers.org/swhome.html

Tim reminded me of a game I had read in one of the wargames magazines several years before, that they had put on and helpfully explained some of the mechanisms that they had used in their participation game, where each player completed to escape from the Zulu hordes, a nice mechanism where by the Zulu's only go after the closest figure.... brillant and just what I was looking for.
It would give the game a competitive edge.... Thanks Tim perfect inspiration...

We played two test games each one lasting under an hour.

Game 1

The British walked on mass to the donga, an ordered fighting retreat with only for one groups of three to be left behind and swamped  by the Zulu's.

Game 2

A more competitive edge with one of the players spending the first turn saddling their horses before racing for the donga leaving the other 2 players to fend for themselves.

The feed back from the guy's was that the game had the right tension and lasted just long enough to keep people interested, the closest figure target was a great way of the using the initiative cards so key to the fun of the Too Fat Lardies Rules.

There were some key learns to tweaks to make before the next outing.

1. Add a couple of additional breaks in the Kraal would stop the British and the Zulu's being funnelled to the same spot on each game.

2. Perhaps even turning the enterance to the rear of the table would provoke a different feel as player break out?

3. We decided on not telling the players it's a competitive game until they have deployed their forces...

4. It might be benefical to have some clear factions, FrontierJackets, Scarlet Jackets to allow players to remember who they were?

In terms of tweaks to the table and required painting a number of extra's are still needed.
Single dismounted horses.
Who on earth makes 25mm saddles?
A camp fire.
More Rocks need for the Donga.
Change the Lichen terrain to Coconut fibre the Lichen gave it to much of a jungle feel rather than veldt.

Handouts and rule summaries will be needed together with some spare measurement tapes.

Plenty to do before the show date of the Sunday 29th January.

Creating a Participation Game

Having decided that a participation game is the best way of advertising the club and engaging with potential interested gamers, we set about thinking about the type of game required, it had to be a period that represented the clubs interests, but also a period that people would know and want to play.

When considering how the game should be run, I thought about my own experiences around shows, much time would I be prepared to give up to play a game, rather than wandering from stall to stall browsing 45 Minutes to an Hour seemed about right...

However it has to be said that I have only ever played one participation game in over 30 years of gaming !!!!

So the task was to find a scenario that would last under an hour, give 3-4 players a full role to play and obtain a reasonable result at the end....

Various ideas were put forward, Wings of War, Western, Naval, none of which gave a true flavour of the club. Over at the Evesham Wargames Club we have been playing a variant of the Too Fat Lardies Sharp Practice Rules adapted for  use in the Zulu Wars, we played a large all dayer over the summer, between the club members we have a large collection of figures and terrain, but perhaps more importantly a number of players know the rules back to front to allow the game to flow really quickly.....

The Zulu War is full of encounters of the valiant British fighting off the massed hordes of Zulu Warriors, how do you translate that to 4' x 4' table in order an hour?

I have just finished reading a couple of books about Napoleon in Egypt which sparked the idea for the Scenario. The Death of Louis, Crown Prince of France. Something historical, a small number of figures with a definative outcome - escape or die trying.....
Hunting around the web I found on a great link to a scenario for the Rencounter rule set by Ed Allen http://www.angelfire.com/sd/scarvie/louis.html which had taken the story and conveted it to a wargames scenario.

Set out below is the proposed handout on the day, I wanted people to be aware of the scenario but also aware of the background. The Too Fat Lardies rules are perfect for this as lead characters be come Big Men and have a real part to play in the scenario.

Set out below is the proposed hand out and background, I planned on having this on display around the table together with handouts detailing the scenario and club details.

Setting

Louis Napoleon, Prince Royal of France, had come to serve as an aide-de-camp to General Chelmsford. The Prince had been living in Britain after the Franco-Prussian War. He was a dashing young man of 23 years and rumoured to be a possible match for Princess Beatrice – Queen Victoria’s youngest daughter.

General Chelmsford was nervous about the responsibility of having such a personage on his staff. He gave orders that Louis was never to leave camp without an officer and an escort. Lieutenant Jahleel Brenton Carey, had been educated in France and quickly befriended the Prince Royal as he spoke very good French. The young Napoleon was assigned to help Carey with his tasks of the surveying of the terrain in front of the advancing British army.

Napoleon became restless with the chore of mapping and was keen to gain some fighting experience. On one such mission, the pair were met by half of their escort. The other were not available. Reasoning that a proper escort could be formed by rounding up six troopers from the scouts out in front of the army, the group set out on their mission.

The group rode out to the limit of their assigned reconnaissance. Stopping at a small deserted Zulu camp on the north bank of the Ityotosi river, Louis suggested that they let the horses graze and the troopers take a break and make tea.

Lunch over, the patrol stood by their horses to mount. Louis was about to issue the order, when a volley of rifle shots rang out and a group of Zulus charged out from the nearby scrub.

Aftermath

Terrified by the noise, Rogers' mount bolted, and he got off only one shot before being stabbed by an assegai. Carey, already mounted, followed by Willis, Grubb and Cochrane, galloped straight for the donga. Abel managed to mount, but was shot in the back and fell. Le Tocq dropped his carbine, dismounted to retrieve it, and remounted. As he fled he saw Louis running alongside his own horse, trying to get into the saddle. Gripping his saddle by the holster and running with the animal, Prince Louis slipped and unhorsed ran a few yards before turning to face his attackers.

The young Prince met his death bravely as the group of about six Zulus fell upon him. He was struck in the thigh by a thrown assegai, which he pulled out. He charged the Zulu’s firing his pistol twice. He missed, and a second thrown assegai stopped his charge. The Zulus advanced and were seen stabbing over and over again.

The rest of his troop looked on, in the distance and when they returned to the camp and reported what happened Lieutenant Carey was charged with cowardice in the face of the enemy.

Victory Conditions

Escape off the North side of the table, taking as few casualties as possible. If five or more British figures (including the guide), or the Prince Royal, are killed or left behind, the game is lost.

Forces

Louis Napoleon, Prince Imperial of France

Lieutenant J.B. Carey, 98th Regiment, D.A.Q.M.G.

Sergeant Willis, Natal Horse

Corporal Grubb, Natal Horse

Trooper Abel, Natal Horse

Trooper Cochrane, Natal Horse

Trooper Rogers, Natal Horse

Trooper Le Tocq, Natal Horse

Zulu guide

The plan is to have a dry run at this weeks club night, testing out the scenario and timings with a couple of players who have not played the game before.
The challanges are converting Sharp Practice to single figure units?
Will the game be long enough or to short?
Can we get it to feel like a Victorian Adventure?
Is it engaging enough?