A Bridge too close

That was the moniker my pal Aaron put on our first game of Warlord Games "Bolt Action", last evening at our 80th Club meeting since we moved our semi monthly club night to my basement back in 2009.  While I have tons of miniatures my mother in fit of early senility sold all my old 70's Airfix plastic models I had that were my first miniatures. (although back them they were just my expensive "Army Men"). in a garage sale while I was away at college. Thankfully she never got around to selling my fantasy miniatures or I probably wouldn't be writing this.  Anyway I think I've seen the film "a Bridge to far" probably 25 times over the years..its my favorite WW2 film and why I started playing Flames of Wa,r I went with British Airborne and when I want to get some 28mm ones a few years ago, I went with Warlord's Red Devils box.

When I got my 28mm Red Devils there wasnt really a game to support them, there were some other WW2 skirmish games out there but I never got around to it. Now that WG has me hooked with their quality rules sets, and great lines of figures. The jump to BA was inevitable.

Aaron and I have recently accumulated our 1000 point armies, my British and his Panzer Grenadiers. so we were chomping at the bit to play. A bunch of other guys I know are into the game and we are trying to get some the other boys at club night to get on-board. We had great fun last night  and I'll leave you with Aarons write up on our forum about last nights game

"John's Paratroopers faced off against my Panzergrenadiers as I tried to wrestle an derelict but strategically important bridge away from the allies in our first Bolt Action game!

The objective of the game was a bridge in the very center of the table, nestled in the in the middle of a village. The Brit platoon's first squad had captured the bridge and was desperately waiting for the rest of the platoon to link up with them before the German armored infantry could launch their assault and force them off of the bridge.

We did a small game (550 points) to familiarize ourselves with BA's rules.

John's first squad held the bridge while a sniper team hung out in a small building nearby. His second squad, Vickers MMG team, some HQ support (Medic and Forward Artillery Observer), and his 1st Lt. were coming in to reinforce the pathfinder unit. A recon jeep also supported the British attack on the far right flank.

The Germans approached the bridge through the village, darting in and out of cover. The platoon's 2nd Lt lead 2 Panzergrenadier squads with LMG teams through the center of the village in an attempt to boot the small British unit off of the bridge!

The German plan ran into a major snag when a jumpy machine gunner mistook the Lieutenant and his escorts as an ambushing paratrooper unit! After seeing his NCOs cut down before him, the Lt. decided to flee the field to fight another day! If you have played Hail Caesar you are probably familiar with 'fumbled' orders. BA has a similar mechanic that can, rarely, result in friendly fire incidents. "Das ist nicht zer gut!"

British Paratrooper reinforcements began to show up in force, advancing through the village while the squad holding the bridge exchanged fire with one of the Panzergren squads across the river. Some light casualties were suffered by the limeys, but that didn't mar the Englanders fighting spirit! The sniper in the building was able to claim some kills against the Germans approaching the bridge as well.

Eventually all of the forces of the belligerent forces made their way to the battlefield. The Paratrooper recon jeep splashed across a shallow spot in the river and attacked the flank of the Germans positioned in the village with twin vickers MMGs! A SdKfz 251 Halftrack rumbled up the road while spitting fire at the Brits hiding in cover on the opposite side of the bridge. The 2nd platoon of Paras made their way around the opposite flank of the village attempting a pincer move with the Jeep, laying down suppressive fire all the way. The Germans deployed a Granatwerfer 42 heavy mortar which quickly eliminated the British squad holding the bridge!

The halftrack's attack on the bridge foundered initially while the flank attacks began to take their toll on the Germans hidden amongst the buildings south of the river. Panzergrens opposite of the British left flank stormed out of their cover to face the paras advancing up the bank of the river. The British Platoon leader valiantly rallied his nearby comrades, and assaulted the Halftrack which was forcing it's way across the bridge, only to be scattered by it's occupant's counter attack (we did this part wrong - John should have won the combat - "Oppzee Doopzee, Herr Humphrey. Mein bad!").

Assaults aimed at kicking the enemy off of the bridge by each force were running out of steam! Short range firefights began to whittle down each opposing platoon, and at the end of the game the bridge was not clearly controlled by either side. The game was a draw!

There was some interesting ebb and flow in this game, especially in terms of which side was able to gain the initiative over the other. In the end each side dug in and waited for reinforcements to arrive to renew their assault! We played about half of another game with the exact same forces, and scenario, only with the attacker/defender roles reversed. It was initially more bloody and we each seemed to lead our troops with a bit more direction. The only thing stopping us from finishing game #2 was the fact that cars were going to start to get towed at midnight! "



So there you go we are retooling for an actual 1000 point game next week, I really like the game flow, love the orders system and well as the individual mechanics...I felt the rule balance "just right" in the  not too light, not to heavy rules department (where HC can get a little overwhelming)

While I work on my Brits, think about some Germans to oppose them. I have soft spot of course for my own countries troops. In a bit of personal history, My mother's father, was CPL Lawrie Montgomery who served under Mark Clark in the US 5th Army in WW2 , He was in both the North African Campaigns and Operation Avalanche from Salerno to Rome, wounded by a landmine post Rome and that was the end of the war for him, but he lived until the ripe old age of 86 passing away in 1999. He was awarded a Silver Star, Two Bronze Stars and at the one Purple Heart that I know of, why or what for I don't know because he would never talk about the war much, saying things like "War is hell"," It's best forgotten" , Clearly we don't forget -for good reason Pop.

Antiquity Campaign- Round 4

Hail Caesar! play continued early this month with our ongoing Antiquity Campaign.

Again the participants are :

Rome (Rome) Yellow
Syracuse- Orange
Sparta- Red
Macedonia - Green
Persians- Achaemenid - Blue
Rome (Byzantium)- Purple


Here is our map after 4 rounds. My Spartans triumphantly defeated Macedonia in a very hard fought battle. My Victory allowed me secure all border territories I had been squabbling with and partially remove Syracuse Troops from Sparta -but stragglers still remain.Rome continued battling Syracuse, with Rome giving up some territory in this week.  In the East Byzantium laid a crushing defeat on the Persians causing them to cede territory. Round 5 happens this coming Tuesday.

Dark Age Campaign Round 5

Round 5 of our Quasi Historical Dark Ages Campaign is tonight. Above is the current map of the world before the festivities. As you can see the Green of the Caliphate of Cordoda, led by the Mighty Almanzor is spreading across the known world as quickly as the plague. My Saxons got lucky with a minor victory against the Normans last week but since the results against all opponents are based on Scores in the games you play my winning score of '30" was no match for Rich's "40" so I continue to lose ground to the Caliphate. I face off against the Caliphate tonight and all my Map moves are against Green, with the hope of kicking them out of Ireland and England, and not losing any more territory. A bad round with a low score against Rich in which I face aggressive moves from the Normans could legitmately knock me out maybe not this round by next...with the position Aaron and I are in we not make the 8 rounds of campaign!. and he faces of against Chris and the Byzantines tonight!. So wish the underdogs luck.

Despite my only semi serious gloom and doom above. This campaign and Warlords Hail Caesar rules have been great time. We are going to be hosting Hail Caesar open gaming at Adepticon this year so if your looking for something to do Saturday Night or just want to check it out..please keep it in mind!

Monthly Pirate Update

When this...

Our 3rd meeting of our Legends of the High Seas Campaign took place on Tuesday evening. 6 crews fighting for domination in our little mock up of the Caribbean circa 1720. My Royal Navy Crew took its lumps losing both games this week, however both losses where totally negligible in the campaign phase where I had only permanent losses of a few able Seamen. I played my own Raise the Flag scenario, which went quite well until a bad round turned things around...I ended up conceding before I took a chance as my very experienced hero's having to roll on that scary injury chart, even with the Surgeon I am wary..in fact my Midshipman took a chest wound and is now Defense 2. Still Adam and I agreed it was one of the better games we both played in the campaign.

The second game was quite similar as we demoed my scenario on my ship wreck board. Joe, my opponent had a larger crew than I did, got to both wrecks first and found all the chests quickly (which have to moved to your D zone to score)bad luck, placement, and poor rolls on shooting to wounds..had me breaking first and things went south quickly again I conceded.I did manage to capture on of Adams heroes.(via "Captured" on the injury chart) so he and I will play prison break first thing next week. 2 rounds, 4 games to go. As usual scoring update, etc are on my Legends of the High Seas campaign blog


Goes to this, you best give up the ship or meet Davey Jones locker.

Just a teaser WIP pic of new lighthouse for the shipwreck board, looks much more appropriate. Top section goes on this weekend. photos soon.

Battle Report. - Empire vs Warriors of Chaos 2500

5/18 @ Plastic Legions HQ

Five of us regulars met for our Bi-weekly club night last evening. Rich came by with all our new shiny WAB books he had group ordered for us and the other four of us threw down some Warhammer. The plan was to prep for the Mid West Rampage tournament this weekend. MWR is a 2250 tournament with 5 games however games 2 and 3 are 2500 point games with a 250 point Dogs of War float. This is what we wanted to test out. I have never used my Braganza's Besieger's unit...as it's my only DoW unit that's what I was going to field. Billy and Chris played Dwarfs vs Wood Elves with Pirate Slayers and Volands Venerators as their DoW...I had Braganza with the Empire against Aaron's Warriors of Chaos with a unit of Ogre Ironguts. Below the batrep from the game, my second try with Battlefield Chronicler. Unless we have all painted models on the table, I'll probably start defaulting to this for Bat Reps.. Aarons heavily themed Chaos army is so converted and custom sculpted..it's a shame its will probably only be primed for the weekend...I'll reserve photos of his awesome work until he gets some paint on them..but for sneak peak check out his blog Xenite's miniatures for a look at his awesome work.


Deployment


Key

Warriors of Chaos, Cult of Slannesh 2500 (Mark of Slannesh- MoS )

CL - Chaos Lord on Manticore, MoS, Crown of Command, Diabolic Splendor
EH- Exhalted Hero, MoS, Shield , Glaive of Purification, Steed
Sor- Chaos Sorceror- Tzeentch, Lv 2, Disc, Homunculus, Dispel Scroll, Power Familiar

CW1- 15 Chaos Warriors, FC, MoS
CW2- 15 Chaos Warriors FC, MoS
MH - 5 Marauder Horse
CH1- 6 Warhounds
CH2- 6 Warhounds
CK- 5 Chaos Knights FC, MoS
CC1- Chariot, MoS
CC2- Chariot, MoS
MC- 12 Chaos Cultists (Marauders)
OG- Ogre Iron Guts- Dogs of War

WPS 17

Empire- Army of Talabecland 2500

GEN- General of Empire- Helm of Ratslayer, Holy Relic, Pistol, Great Weapon
WP-Warrior Priest- Icon of Magnus, Armor of Meteoric Iron, Great Weapon
Wiz( red)-Wizard, Level 2, Rod of Power
Wiz (white)- Wizard, Level 2, Seal of Destruction.

SWD- 24 Swordsmen, FC
Mil1- 9 Free Company Detachment
Mil 2-9 Free Company Detchament
HG- 10 Handgunners, Marksman, HLR
Xbow- 10 Crossbowmen
FreeC- 10 Free Company , FC
CAN- Great Cannon
KTS- 5 Knights of the Inner Circle, FC, Steel Standard
FAST- 5 Pistoliers, Outrider with Repeater pistol
VG- Helblaster Volley Gun
ST- Steam Tank
BZB- 13 Braganza's Besieger's (crossbows) Dogs of War

WPS 17

Magic
Aarons level 2, uses the Lore of Tzeentch, his spells are Flickering Fire and Pandemonium
I have on Level 2, with the Lore of Fire, he has Fireball and Fiery Blast
My other Level 2 has the Lore of Light, he has Burning Gaze and Phar's Illumination


WoC Turn 1



Aaron wins and chooses to go first, His plan is engage me ASAP to avoid my heavy shooting. He keep his Lord hidden from y artillery but moves everything else up as much as he can. His Magic Phase starts with Pandemonium on "14", I go Seal of Destruction right away hoping to get rid of that nasty spell for the game, no luck. I roll a "1" ..its Dispelled this round but still in play.


Empire Turn 1


Given ample targets for shooting, I move my Flagellants to draw those nasty knights away from my General and his block of Swordsmen, my Knight are poised to go left of support and the Stank moves up to protect my right. In magic Phase I try to burn up some warriors the left with little result, I do get 3 of 6 hounds on the right with a Burning Gaze causing them to flee.I then unload alot of shooting, my Cannon overshooting one Chariot but popping the over, Crossbows shoot up and kill 2 Horsemen on the right and 5 of the 12 Marauders on the left side. 1st blood goes to the Empire!.


WoC Turn 2


Aaron's brings the fight right away, both his Chaos Knights and Ogres charge my Flagellants His Hounds charge my General and Swordsmen and my Detachments counter charge. He positions his other units, moving his Exhalted hero and unit of Warriors up my left flank. with right flank serious softened from my last round of shooting, he starts pulling everything away from my right flank. Aarons Sorcerors miscast takes a wound and the magic phase ends. In Close Combat, Aaron mistaken does the combats in the wrong order, allowing me to crush his dogs overrun and get a detachment into that combat with the flagellants to hopefully to buy the tarpit an extra round and divert some attacks..no such luck...still take 11 kills on the Flagellants and the Detachment runs away taking 4 losses..those Knights and Ogres are locked up for at least one more turn.

Empire Turn 2


I decide not to run my Knights into that Ogre and Chaos Knight Combat and run down those remaining Marauders..they almost escape but thanks to the Steel Standard they dont., My knight are now behind Aarons lines and out of sight of his Lord, a good place to be. My Swordmen, marchblock move 4 inches ahead. Not sure where the warriors are going I bring my Pistoliers out and hope to get some Feigned Flight happening. I then bring the Steam Tank over 1 inch away from the Chaos Knights (who are Frenzied) so once they get out of that Combat with my Flagellants they must charge the front of the Tank. Magic is uneventual. My Cannon misfires and it a malfunction so no shooting until turn 4. I put a ton of shots on that second chariot but can't get the "5's" I need to damage it. Braganza and the guys keep shooting up the Chaos Warriors with the Exhalted Hero headed their way. In Close Combat my Flaggies take 8 kills, which free's up the Knights and a lone crazed madman keeps the Ogres held another round.

WoC Turn 3


Free of the Flagellants but again Frenzied, those Chaos Knights must charge my Steam Tank I hope my 1+ armor save can keep me with enough wounds to grind them down on my turn. Both Aarons Lord and Chariot go for the easy kill Charging my Pistoliers..I was going to run and I wasnt really expecting the Lord to charge them, just the Chariot..since I would be running away from the Lord and not the Chariot..I endangered my whole right flank to panic checks if I ran that way so I held and the got wiped out, leaving greasy spot where the Manticore stopped to feed on them as the Chariot just rolled on thru. Aaron Exhalted Hero has a long Charge so he charges out of the unit to take on Braganza's Besiegers solo, He challenges Brazanga..whose got good stats WS 5, BS 5, but has only a 5+ armor save and easily dies to the Chaos Hero. However the unit has a good static res. rank, standard, outnumber, plus I am on a hill..and the Hero loses but makes his break check. My Stank ends up only taking one wound from the Chaos Knights.
It could have been worse.

Empire Turn 3


March Block, Aaron can't get his second unit of Chaos Warriors out of range of a Flank charge from my General and Swordsmen, I try to bring the Detachment along but they within range of the Manticore and have to make a terror check, they fail and run away. My Knights turn around
to run threaten the wounded Chaos Sorceror, and my Fire Wizard gets out of the away of the oncoming Warrior unit headed toward my Cannon and that Exhalted Hero. Again not much luck in Magic..the Fire Wizard tries to get those on coming chaos warriors..either gets 1 or just fails
(don't recall) , The Light Wizard tries to fry the chariot but again I can't wound. I dont have any shooting target this turn and in Close Combat, that last Flagellant dies and my Swordmens crush those warriors with the flank charge, they need snake eyes from the combat res and run, they do get away and I am a 1/4 inch short of hitting Aarons Sorceror. Having some bad runs with the Steam Tank getting greedy for Steam Points I am only bidding "saftey steam" this game..good enough..I kill two of the 5 Knight but they hold against me. The Besiegers no fighting without their namesake, win combat against the Exhalted this time, but he holds.

WoC Turn 4


That second Chariot of Aarons in now in my backfield and being a real pain, it charges my huntsmen, and I cant getway so I hold. His Chaos Warriors minus the Exhalted charge my Cannon, and His Lord on the Manticore charge my fleeing detachment and kill it but its puts Aarons lord under the nose of the Helblaster. Aarons Sorceror goes for a Flickering Fire on my knights with high roll but I stop it with a high roll., Aaron Fleeing second unit of warriors rallies. In combat the chariot crushes my huntsmen and overruns right into the other detachment I have back there...This Chariot is Aarons MVP for sure, His Warriors obliterate my Cannon Crew whose demise causes my Red Wizard to panic and he fails and runs away. Aaron's luck runs out
with the Besiegers thou..he loses combat to them and this time runs..he easily gets away with a high flee and pulls the Dogs of War Crossbow off the hill in pursuit.

Empire Turn 4


My General and Swordsmen Re-engage the rallied Chaos Warriors, my Knights Charge the Sorceror who flees and I redirect into the Ogres., My Fleeing Wizard, rallies and my other wizard moves back to cast at the Chaos Lord. Magic goes nowhere for me this round, and the big shooting event is my Helblaster barring down on Aarons Lord. For whatever reason my Helblaster has Aarons number everytime I use it against him..I get 22 shots , 11 hits and 7 Wounds..all wounding...Kill the Manticore outright and put two wounds on the Lord who lives but is now on foot. My Swordmen break his warriors again who flee almost off the board exposing their flank to the oncoming Besiegers. My tank gets a good grinding roll off and kills the Chaos Knights off and has Seven Wounds remaining..enough to be mobile. My Knights dont fair so well against the Ogres I kill one, but lose two of my own Knights and the Ogres hold.

WoC Turn 5


Aaron's Chariot now free of my second detachment, charges my rallies Wizard caught between Chaos Warriors and Chariot I run and die. Again Aaron Warriors Rally for another round of combat with my General and Swordsmen. The Chaos Lord charges my other Wizard..trying to get out of LoS of my HelBlaster and not run into the line of fire of my other shooters, he succeeds. My Knight stick with the Ogres and again, and there isnt much of a magic phase,
The Exhalted Hero has rallied unwounded, tries to find somewhere to be useful.


Empire Turn 5


Both General and the Besiegers charge the remaining Warriors who run off the board My Knights Kill the Ogres, and survive with 3 of 5 left, my Steam turns around and goes after that damn chariot and in the process the Engineer in the Stank uses his repeater pistol to shoot down the wounded Chaos Sorceror, got to love the versatility of the Steam Tank, My Wizard throws a Burning Gaze at the Chaos Lord who laughs it off. there are Army objectives in this game mirror whats going in the actuall tournament..I could find anything in Battle Chronicler to represent them (although you use a Unit called "objective:) they were not really relevant here so I left them out. anyway my Free Company moved out to capture one.


WoC Turn 6


Aaron's last gasp, His Exhalted Hero rear charges my General and Swordsmen hoping to get lucky, doesnt loses and flees..it doesnt matter as he wont get a chance to rally, but he rolls 3d6 and gets and 11, I roll 2d6 and roll "boxcars" catching him anyway, that's how this game went for Aaron., His Marauder threw some axes at my Free Company killing one and his Warriors stayed put on the hill, Aaron moved that chariot so the Tank could charge it and not the Warriors who are worth alot more points.


Empire Turn 6


We didn't finish my last turn as it was clear I had won and it was getting late. If the game did continue, I could have charged my knights at the Warriors on the hill hoping to get them below half or just held..my Stank was definitely hitting that chariot, Shooter target those surviving horseman where they could to try keep Aaron from contesting that quarter, and that's it. As it ended at the top of 6, I had 3 quarters and a bunch of Banners, despite appearance all my expensive stuff was still on the table, and I only took 630 in loses..so pretty clearly at least a Solid Victory..for the Empire. Aaron played a great game...he's hasnt been playing that long and is steadily improving..we are looking forward to great time this weekend..I'll a few comments on Rampage overall before I leave on Friday.



Aaron sent me this morning, just to remind of what he thinks of my Helblaster.
This is by Wayne Kemp of the Heelanhammer Podcast. Awesome and Hilarious...
We'll have to get Aaron his own Helblaster!

Mighty Empires VI- Round 5- Warbands

Player	Army	Wins	Losses	Draw	Battle	Comp	Sports	Total	EP
Rich	Warriors	3	0	1	55	20	12	87	6
John	Empire	2	1	1	45	18	14	77	5
Anthony	O&G	3	1		50	17	9	76	4
Bill	Vampires	1	2	1	35	20	16	71	5
Billy	Dwarfs	2	1	1	45	16	0	61	5
Nate	Lizardmen	1	2	1	35	20	3	58	3
Aaron	Warriors		3	1	25	20	8	53	3
Chris	Wood Elves	1	3		30	16	4	50	3

Scores after Round 5

10- Orcs and Goblins- Anthony
8- Warriors of Chaos- Rich
7- Empire- John
7- Vampire Counts- Bill
6- Lizardmen- Nate
5- Wood Elves- Chris
5- Warriors of Chaos- Aaron
3-Dwarfs- Billy


Warbands was good time, we had no problems with time limits and everyone took to the spirit of the event. In the end it shook the map up a little, nice change of pace to get in four games instead of one, in an evening. In fact the suggestion was made we try a whole campaign with lower point games in order to get a couple games in an evening...not a bad idea. Anyway great primer for those of us playing in Warbands at Adepticon, we did my own awards for Sportsman, based of Favorite Game votes (congrats Bills) and Favorite Theme /Comp'd list (congrats Aaron) but otherwise its identical to upcoming event. Ill post a brief write up on my own list and 4 games, with some in game photos next.

Club Night 7/14

We have 1st meeting in July last night..despite spotty attendance from some of the regulars we are getting a consistent 4 or 5 games happening every meeting last night Bill and I played our 1st VC vs Empire match up in a long time. First time trying out the Steam Tank vs Bill and he brought out the Lv 4 on the Zombie Dragon for the only the second time playing me. Always
a good the unorthdox list we both played. ( I had no other artillery other than the Steam Tank, while Bill played with No BSB, and no mega block of vampire laden troops) work both for an against us. The Steam Tank works very well against VC..and although Blood Knights can on average pop it open like a can of tuna on the charge..Bill didn't want to commit them with letting them wreak their own havoc 1st..The ate up my Greatswords but got held up long enough to get into trouble. The Stank Cannon took down the Dragon.( being able to fire the cannon at other targets while in close combat is crazy powerful ability) The spell "Curse of years" is a personal bane to me..I can never , ever seem to shake it until it get down to 3+/4+ mass extinction level..after numerous dispel attemps (I threw 4 dice at it and came up with 3 "1"'s..I finally shook after it killed my BSB. In the end a last chance attempt by Bill to regroup with Dragonless Vampire General joining the graveguard was thwarted by the Rod of Command While put serious hurt on my almost wiped out swordsmen and General..I wasnt going anywhere allowing Luthor Huss and 9 Inner Circle Knight plus another full detachment to slam into both flanks at the bottom of turn 6. The Vampires were crumbled to dust in a rare Empire Massacre. As always I have some of the best games with Bill.

In other games Nate brought out his Lizards and took on Chris's crazy converted Wood Elves
the Lizards pulled out a Solid Victory there. Then Rich's Beastmen took on Chris's Wood Elves
in a serious all skirmishers games..in which the Beasts pulled out the Victory,

Finally Nate and I played a 600 Lord of the Rings games, Mordor Vs Rohan or more specifically Shagrat and the Tower Guard of Cirith Ungol VS Eomer and the Riders of Rohan Scenario was"High Ground" where we battled over a ruin on top of the huge hill set up I have with my Realm of Battle table. Outnumbered 2 to 1 Nate had his work cut out for him, although with 9 might, and being able to regenerate might he had a good chance..Eowyn and Eomer got a bit too ambitious and tried to take out too much too soon and got mobbed and went down early..while the Rohan captains took down my troll, I still had over half my troops remaining swarming all of the captured hilltop, while Nate was failing courage checks and down to 3 models..Rohan conceded and Mordor won the day...Great Game.

I did take a few photos..I will pop up later.

Tuesday Night Gaming

Plastic Legions HQ, 5/26

Despite the Legends of the High Seas campaign its been a relatively slow month for me. Games Workshop new policy of store hour cutbacks have prevented me and countless others out there from being able to game in their shops. Even thou I want to come in and spend my money there I can't, because getting there before it closes to buy some paint is hard enough forget about trying to get a game in...The Chicago Battle Bunker closing at 8pm was the nail in the coffin for me. Outside of a special event.. like a tournament that I plan on for months or having a very rare free Saturday. If I do get a Saturday free..Oak Park runs its events for beginners on weekends and getting to the battle bunker is traffic nightmare there and back so I barely have time to get a full game in before I need to leave. My options for playing WFB are now limited to twice a month at my own hosted club night (glad I got my fill with those 18 games in the month before Adepticon because I wont be seeing 18 more games of Fantasy outside a tournament until probably 2011).

Tonight was return to a classic, The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game..this is the game all the rule sets for those Historical Skirmish games I talk about are based on. This game simply rules and its too bad it never got more popular..While I like the new War of the Ring, lets be honest. GW wrote WotR to help try to sell the huge amount of unsold back stock of product they had laying around because they were not capable getting the game to catch on due to the terrible way they marketed it. Again- I like War of the Ring but its overly simplified and walks a razor thin line of throwing all strategy aside to pure luck by the crazy number of dice thrown. Whether Lord of the Rings SBG falls into the no mans land of the Specialist Games still remains to be seen..GW has more than likely run the course of potential supplements or are close to it..thankfully the new models are dual purpose and you can get alot of milage out of both games.

Tonight I played a pair of 500Pt SBG games, Billy (not Bill, Billy is the other Bill) brough both Umbar and Harad and showed me why Sauron made them his allies and not his enemies.

Mordor vs Harad - Domination

Mordor

Shagrat
3 Uruk Hai
10 Orc HW& Shield
8 Orc Spear
Orc Capt.
Orc with Banner
6 Warg Riders , HW & Shield, Bows
Troll

Harad

Suladan
Hasharin
Raiders
Serpent Guard
Infantry with Spears

In Domination the objective is to capture 4 specific points on the board...in this game it was each corner, we both deployed in opposite corners so we had to defend our own corner while trying to capture the others. Billy deployed in the city, while I deployed outside on the beach. Although Billy won most of the Priority rolls..he put alot of man power on killing my troll which allowed me to spread all over the board..my Warg Riders managed to do plenty of damage this game removing three of his intercepting Raiders allowing me to capture the church with infantry and send some Warg Riders after his own base removing the lone defender with some arrows. My Orc Captain led his own assault team to remaining quarter, and although he couldnt climb to save his life..his men held off the deadly lone Harshin long enough for Shagrat to break the will of Harad and start the courage checks..The Assassin routs..I know have all four control points.. The game continues and Suladan battles his way back..causing me to rout and many of my troops start to flee the battlefield. I lose one Objective due to routing, Shagrat and Suladan have an epic throw down and while the Castellan of Cirith Ungol goes down..his men holdfast and games ends with Mordor the victor.


(1st time I've got to game on my Osgiliath Table, while its still along way from being done, its slowly coming together and quite playable in the rough shape its in and I am currently working on 12 x 12 " city tiles of different textures (cobblestone, Flagstone, Brick) to really bring it to life I should be updating soon.)

Mordor vs Umbar- Contest of Champions

I ran the same list, this time Billy brough Dalamyr, an Assassin, Captain and Bosun with a bunch of Corsairs and 8 Arbalesters. Fate and Luck abandoned Mordor this time..as the Arbalesters shredded both my Troll and Warg Riders like pincushions. Without their support and my forces split, My Orcs were eaten alive my Corsairs, Shagrat couldn't convert anything losing numerous fights to a "hand of fate" die roll, while Dalamyr was stacking up Orc bodies like firewood for the winter..Once the routing started it was all over..Shagrat proved why he's the toughest S.O.B Orc hero in the game, He sticking around until the very end (most of it surrounded)..but eventually Mordor was tabled.



( I've changed my Walls to these pieces for the table, much more practical to play on, plus they are taller and look the part)

As you can see from my brief recaps while I brought the same army and we played on the same table- both games were completely different. Billy's heavy support (the Arbalesters) was devastating and while my superior number and Cavalry won me the day against a smaller more specialized Harad force..I was softened up enough to get crushed when I met the seasoned Pirates of Umbar. Both these game were dynamic and exciting and its the kind of stuff you often don't get a chance to appreciate in the larger format games like WFB,WotR, 40K, etc.

We also had some Warhammer Ancient Battles going on. I've been struggling getting my Celt Army built..I am not loving the models from both Wargames Factory and Warlord Games that I have. Both have significant issues that bug me and when you are building tedious multi part plastic models you'd better love what you are doing or you will go nuts. I still love the game but am debating dumping all the plastics and just going with Foundry's Models..I am so impressed by the recent Foundry stuff I got...That a 1000 points of Foundry Celts would be simply amazing to paint, however its pretty steep luxury at around $300 USD to replace the $80 of plastic troops I have built. Anyway I gave up my WAB game to Chris since we had an odd number of players tonight. He and Rich did the Arab vs Celt rematch and the Arabs carried the day once again..With a new WAB campaign open to all being hosted by Adeptus Windy City and the new book coming this year..I expect to see alot more WAB ahead..what models I will be using is another story.

All in all a great night we were missing some bodies but I expect to see us back at close to a dozen for the next meet.. That's it for now, June is coming and June is about the Empire!

Give it up for the Pirates!!

Plastic Legions -Club Night 4/14


We had a great turn out tonight for our 1st meeting of Tuesday club night since we were excommunicated from the store. Head count was 8, We were missing some notable characters from the group, but hopefully we'll see them next time. A couple notable local bloggers were in attendance Rich, who brought his awesome Pirate Castle terrain over (that many of you saw at this years Adepticon) and we threw down with some Legends of the High Seas, and then Jeff put his foot in water playing Hordes with a couple of the guys..Of course we had our obligatory Warhammer Fantasy games...Chaos vs Wood Elves, and Chris G. and I played a crazy 1250 pt match Daemons vs Wood Elves as the final match of the evening. Definitely had plenty of room and I think we can easily go to 12 people and not feel crowded. Lots of talk going on about doing some events, a Campaign and alot of interest in Historical gaming which is cool. Next meeting is in two weeks. Three cheers for the basement!.


One my pirate crew "ol savage" keeps an eye out for rich's sea dogs.
(Privateers)

Some of Rich's Privateers guard the prisoner




My Pirate ship on the beach head, lots of work to still do on it -



Two of my crew attack one of Rich's men, a pistol in the face works.



My Captain "Lucky Jack" wasn't so lucky, after using up his Fame during the fighting
I used my 2 re-rolls (Lucky-archtype) on two courage re-rolls...finally I fail his Courage test and the rest of his men routed
the end of our third game this evening.