Waterloo Refight - Waddington's Solo Book Game to Tabletop

The Worthington, Waterloo Solitaire Book Game just keeps on giving good fun games and by now must have repaid its cover price to me. Having converted it to tabletop via using Warlord Games Epic Scale Napoleonics it has become a big favourite of mine. It is one of those "one hour magic" wargames, creatively fun, not overly taxing but yet satisfying is a non trivial way (see below, the original cover of the book depicts the frantic fighting around Hougoumont): 

I present it in the style of a certain Airfix Waterloo Wargame Set (all Red-British, Blue-French and even Black-Prussian [although you would have to add them yourself later from the Airfix product line]) for those of a certain 1970's "as a young kid" age (see below, I remember having one of these in 1975 courtesy of my two older brothers - as a youngster I honestly did not know what to make of it at the time, or how precious it really was): 

Meanwhile our Napoleon [Renko] prepares to meet his Waterloo - note, poker chits represent Napoleons command capability and time, once you have spend all your chits you have no more command capacity or time left, a beautifully elegant system): 

Napoleon is taking no chances and the KGL are evicted from Le Haye Saint in brutal fashion (see below, after a desultory few turns of bombardment with the British successfully hiding on the reverse slope d'Erlon's 1st Corp are ordered to attack. A ferocious British Cavalry charge decimates the infantry attack, but the survivors still manage to storm the Sand Pit and take the famous farmhouse at the point of the bayonet [Napoleon had a huge sigh of relief on that one]): 

Reilles II Corp was now set upon Hougoumont the key to opening the door to Brussels. Despite taking losses too this savage infantry fight went well for the French (see below, Napoleon took care but spent time in reinforcing both battered Corps from his Reserve [good move as Prussians were starting to appear in the woods on his right flank]. Reformed the French Infantry performed excellent "combined arms" attacks that "broke" poor old Picton): 

With time running short it was the turn of the Imperial Guard to help smash the last remaining British and Dutch-Belgian infantry formation on Wellington;s right flank. The Young and the Middle Guard perished in the attempt, but it was the Old Guard who carried the day for Napoleon, with precious little time to spare on the clock - or rather a very small pile of poker chits remained (see below, the British retire [rout] to Brussels, but it was "a close run thing"): 

Another great game and Abba will now have to pen alternative lyrics for their song, as (still) Emperor Renko Napoleon reigns! 

Note: In the true SCRUM vein of "continuous improvement" (as no wargaming project is ever truly finished) - I think I need to add some pretty national flags per formation. I should also paint the Riflemen units Green instead of Red. I need to substitute a unit of Epic Highlanders into the British line of battle and likewise substitute in some Epic French Imperial Guard units into their line of battle. Perhaps also named movement trays for all the Corps too. All can be done in good time!

Worthington's Coral Sea Solitaire Game

I immediately banked this one when it came out as an instant buy, a "must have", partly because I would simply cry buckets if it were not available when I wanted it as I knew I had all the miniatures to take it to tabletop (see below, US CV's are already done [Lady Lex and Yorktown], and I just need to base and varnish the two main force Japanese CVs [Shokaku (Soaring Crane), Zuikaku (Auspicious Crane)]): 

Then there is the third small Japanese CV [Shoho (Auspicious Phoenix)], some cruisers and the Invasion Fleet in 1/3000 to paint. Motivation, that is all I needed!

Waterloo - From a 1000 piece Jigsaw to a one piece Picture

It all started with a trip to Edinburgh Castle Museum and seeing a marvellous display of the Scots Greys famous picture of them charging at Waterloo. Then there was a chance find in a charity shop of a jigsaw of the same print (see below, I would say a 54mm or 28mm diorama begs doing to do it justice): 

After the epic marathon of putting this incredibly hard jigsaw together (which became a byzantine exercise in matching shades of blue, shades of red, shades of white and shades of brown as described in a previous post [see link])/ By the end of piecing it together, this second-hand jigsaw was well and truly war weary so I soaked in PVA glue and made "an item" of it (see below, I think it splendid in its final state - alas missing only one piece [but coloured brown behind to conceal the gap]. Whether it was sold to me minus this one piece (the peril of second hand jigsaws) or I had managed to lose it is unclear, at one point there were three missing pieces but the other two turned up in "the strangest of places"): 

It seemed all very fitting as at the same time I was playing the Worthington's Waterloo solitaire game (see below, it plays really well and I have also used it as a cooperative team game, where the players comes too a consensus of what decision to do next): 

It is a map based, decision orientated game with a Bot based [AI would be too generous] enemy (see below, high level as each block represents a brigade):

Next up is to convert it to a figure based equivalent using the Warlord Epic Scale Napoleonic miniatures.

Paddy Griffith: ACW Book: Empire Interactive - American Civil War Game

I recently (well fairly - this or last year[?]) read Paddy Griffiths ACW book (and it is very interesting to hear American commentators, perhaps shall we say not so praiseworthy reviews, of the book) but knew that upstairs in the loft was an old bag of computer games, one of which was Empire Interactive's Battles of the American Civil War in which was a paper book supplement, written by Paddy. Yes back in the days computer games came with physical instruction books, so with some spare time on my hands (don't tell the wife) off to the loft I went (see below, amongst the cobwebs my efforts were rewarded):  

It is a classic info book. A good guide to get the basics into perspective and introduce themes to a general audience rather than an in depth or comprehensive historical reference or treatise, but I would say it also goes slightly beyond that and hits the wargamers "sweet spot" and gets them salivating. In the words of an old football coach, "Nobody ever gets cut for spending time practising the basics" and this my friend is a good grounding text to return to so you know you "have it right" (see below, nicely illustrated, some 48 pages and a lovely thing to dip into): 

In combination with my recent purchases of Warlord Games Epic ACW and the Worthington Games (solitaire) Gettysburg wargame, it is a nice fit. 

Ancient Naval Siege - Syracuse 414BC

I seem to be on a Worthington's Games blast at the moment. If it is not the addictive solitaire books then it is their delightful titles such as Syracuse 414BC - the tragedy of all Greek tragedies. When Athens went mad, after going bad n an "imperial" way (see below, the epic sight of a trireme beached on shore with hoplites):

This one again came from Second Chance Games (www.secondchancegames.com) and I thank them for their services to wargaming .. although this was a slightly heavier hit on the wallet being a bookcase game. I am looking forward to it, particularly as it promises to "play quick". Note: there is a two player variant but it is being sold on the solitaire slant!

Board Game Geek reference: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/336403/414-bc-siege-syracuse

What sold me was this review - I was struck down and sunk after hearing it :) 

https://boardgamegeek.com/video/389211/414-bc-siege-syracuse/discriminating-gamer-414-bc-siege-syracuse

Worthington Books - Braveheart Scottish Battles

I have been looking forward to getting my hands on this Worthington Games book. Seeing as I have really enjoyed the Waterloo, Gettysburg and Bismarck games to date (see below, a small point to note - the previous four Worthington games were picked up through Amazon "pay and print" service, yet for some untold reason the print I could only find a physical copy of this game from Second Chance Games (www.secondchancegames.com) and I thank them for their services to wargaming): 

Looking forward to play this with my Scottish relatives. As per the Waterloo game I intend to translate this game to table top - thinking of it as a good use for some 28mm medieval miniatures ;)