EWG October Games Day

We held a games day on Saturday for EWG members. We had 9 attendes for this venue and ran 3 games.

Kevin brought out Spartacus and hosted Scott, Justin and Craig. When I looked in on it, Scott needed just 1 more influence to win. Kevin and Craig managed to make it into a 3 way tie & they had to resolve it in the arena. Scott did manage to eek out a victory.

Bruce hosted Jonathan, Dave & myself in a game of Gangsters. Each faction had hidden victory conditions, but after the femme fatales decimated the Coppers, it was all over. Dave won this game.

After grabbing lunch, I hosted Justin, Craig, Dennis Dave and Jonathan in a game of Pirates! Below is the board layout.

The objective (besides blowing one another out of the water) was to capture the treasure, rum and Cattle on an island defended by a small garrison.

It didn't take long for the cannons to start blasting away, the players learning quickly how guessing range correctly makes all the difference. Cannon balls splashed into the ocean for the most part on the first volleys.

The players also discovered the joys of running aground. Dennis was lucky enough to have his boat drift into the island. His crew started dismounting and rushing the tower...or was it the rum?

Meanwhile Craig's Sea Witches were disembarking from their grounded ship and rowing towards the dock.



 At the other end of the table, Jonathan found himself crewless, with nothing but his Captain and parrot holding off cannon shot from Dave and boarding from Justin. I believe he held off 3 waves of Pirate Crew before succumbing to the boarding my Justin. Justin then captured his ship & proceeded to sail off the board with his prize.



Dennis managed to wipe out most of the Garrison and made to batter his way thru the door. However after many losses, only his Captain made it inside. He proceeded to smash the black powder kegs stored within.

Dave managed to ram into Dennis's ship causing it to sink. His own ship heavily damaged took a shot from Craigs boat to join Dennis at the bottom of the sea. This left Craig with the only remaining ship on the board that was still crewed.

Eventually Dave's Captain was felled by shot, and although having the most points in total, Dave's demise forfeited the victory to Craig.

Thanks to all those whom came out and played.

My focus now is to prepare for my Nov 11th Game Afternoon, where I will be hosting some of the guys in Mordheim. I am already thinking that I will run Pirates at Mayday and for my Game afternoon next November as well.

Swashbuckler at EWG Club Night 16 Oct 12

This evening Bruce brought out his old game Swashbuckler!  for us to play.

Bruce Chen and I, each had 2 figures. They are randomly placed by dice rolls at the start of the broo-ha-ha.

Players then select from the various options and plot them for 6 phases. Many of the options will require a rest after performing, so in effect players will normally get about 3 actions per 6 phases.

In the first battle, both Bruce & I had daggers thrown into our backs within the first turn. I did manage to pull a win out of this fight, though it was looking dicey as I lost one of my men early.

The second battle, we played with more of the rules, adding various stats to the characters, which makes a much more varied battle.

Chen pulled of the victory in this second bout. Without a doubt my favorite action is the ''Hat Wave" which if effective will stun an opponent out usually giving you a chance for a quick followup Lunge.

Everytime I get to play this game, there are plenty of laughs as pulling the carpet, or waving the hat can totally ruin another players plans. Thanks Bruce for bringing it out again!

EDBAG HOTT Campaign - 2nd Night

We kicked off our second night of the HOTT Campaign. Once again I found myself pitted against Mark and his 3 Magician Army. I was the attacker in this battle.

Mark had a bad run of pips, rolling 3 1's in a row for movement...Needless to say that Die was cast into the bag from whence it came.  This allowed my forces to close with him, with most of the action on the right flank. Things were not going well however as I lost my Riders and a Behemoth. Then things changed as my Hero plowed into the warbands with a Behemoth supporting. My beast unit had run around the outside of the map and made a rush towards the stronghold.

The battle in the centre saw my Blade General and 2 spear elements close with the mages and destroy one. Mark was able to enscorcel my Hero, but lost the battle as the beasts pillaged the stronghold. This victory gave me a Mountain tile, of which 4 are needed to win the campaign.

The second battle once again saw me defending a mountain from Mark. This time I was fortunate to have the assistance of an allied contingent who rode into the field on the second turn. Mark attempted to force the one flank.

The battle was on with the Hero and a Behemoth holding off the Magicians and Knight. The hero was able to destroy 2 of the Magicians before I lost my Behemoth. By this time Bruce had ridden into the rear of the Elves and managed to bag one of the Shooters in the woods finishing the battle.

Overall a very good night for my force of Goblins. Things could very well have been reveresed had Mark managed to roll more than 1's and 2's on his Command Pip's.

EWG Club night 2 Oct 12

I realize its a couple days late, but life likes to intervene on things. So here is the report from the game of WAB 2.0 we played at the club last Tuesday

The scenario pitted Romas whom have just collected their tribute from a ville and were about to depart when the Germans returned to see the plundering of their village. The goal was of course the cattle & cart. The Romans had to get it off the board while the Germans tried to prevent it.

 The initial class was between some German Cavalry and the Roman Auxilia Cavalry.

 

After the initial clash, they were locked in melee and additional troops entered the fray. Eventually the German Cavalry withdrew and the pursuing Romans ran into a stubborn German Chieftain who locked them down & slowly destroyed the Roman Cav.

Meanwhile the archers had left the stockade & engaged a unit of German skirmishers. The rest of the Roman  line was sidestepping to keep a screen of troops between the Cattle and Germans.

Below is a shot of the German Chieftain holding down the Roman Cavalry.

The Germans were able to capture one of the cattle herds & managed to prevent the last cart from leaving the table before the end of the game. A last attempt to prevent the Germans from breaking thru left Julius Ceasar and the Standard Bearer slain, thus losing the game for the Romans

Thanks to Dave for bringing out and hosting the game.

Fallcon Part 3

Sunday at Fallcon started off with a Flea-Market! So those whom didn't get the goods at the auction & still had some money burning holes had a chance at some more stuff! After making a few purchases myself I grabbed a coffee & waited for the next and last game of the weekend to start

The event I played was Waterloo 2015: Ney's Massed Cavalry Charge against the British Squares.

The game was hosted by Ross (seen on right with cameraphone in hand) and Doug. The rules used were General de Brigade. In this venue all the players were the French Cavalry whose goal it was to smash thru the British squares  who would be commanded by Ross.

Below is a photo of my command. I had 2 Light Cavalry Divisions with quite a few lancer units. WOOT!

The game really did start off with a bang, as the skirmishers hit my 7th Hussar Regt with 4 damage pips, wounding the general. On their morale test I rolled snake-eyes and the unit dispersed...not a good start!

Here is a shot showing the general chaos. What a sight that would be for the British standing in their squares.

One of my divisions was a Guards Division and so I left it to them to break thru the Dutch Allies squares. I had also maneuvered a huge 64 figure unit around the flank to prevent the Allied Cavalry from interrupting my charge on the Dutch.

 Here is a shot from the British side of the board.

 

And the aftermath! It would take a couple turns to recoup my units as both of them had blown horses. The player beside me - Jeff, had also managed to smash the second Dutch square and I believe Dave on the far end of the table had smashed one as well.

This caused them to fallback behind the front line to recoup. The battlefield was looking a lot different from the start. By this point, every British Artillery unit had be destroyed.

The hard part was beginning though as we were now coming to grips with the Highlanders and other elite British squares, but as often happens at conventions, we ran out of time. Jeff was given the nod as overall winner as he had managed to force a mounted unit  past the British lines.

Initially the rules seemed a little overwhelming, but after a couple turns became easier to grasp. I think this game was a prelude of things to come from Ross & Doug, as the title Waterloo Project 2015 says it all.

Oh before I go, I know some of you will ask what it was I picked up at the Flea-market. Well here is a photo of them.

I will post the images of the EWG meeting tommorrow.

Fallcon Part 2

Saturday afternoon at Fallcon was spent playing in a Pirates of the Aegean: Trojan Wars DBA tournament. We played 3 games and won Gold "Chocolate" tokens for kills, deaths of generals, capturing a camp or winning.

I borrowed Don's Early Bedoin Army. In the first game I was the defender & this was the only time I was able to deploy dunes. I was against Early Hittites. It was a hard fought battle and I did manage to slay his general, however my outclassed foot elements were unable to crack thru his spear.

In the second battle I was against New Egyptians and found my Camelry did suprisingly well against the chariots. I had actually managed to push him back to his stronghold and against the shore.

In the third battle the main fight was over the marsh, where my bad going Auxilia and Psiloi had managed to a general kill and near bagged the game when the dice went bad. The game then swung the other way & my general was slain. It was a very close & exciting battle. Unfortunately I don't recall the army I fought - Early Myceneans?

Saturday Evening:
After the auction and 25th Anniversary speeches I sailed into the savage seas in a game of PIRATES! against a bunch of scurvy dogs seeking to plunder a tomb. There were 7 ships in this battle.

3 Gunboats started at the end while 2 Sloops started from each side.

Cannons fired right off the get-go and the centre Gunboat was the target of several cannonballs. I believe this boat started sinking quick!

While most of the ships blasted away at one another, one of the sloops sped towards the island. It was not a good night to be a Cabin-boy as we had several blown to bits thru critical hits.



 

Below is the state of things by the end of the game (we were told we had to get out). We had 2 ships without masts, another sinking but run aground to slow the inevitable and I believe as only 1 ship made it successfully to the island with the treasure, that he got the nod as victor.

Thus ended Saturday Night and it was off to bed for a few hours before returning to Sundays event. I will post more on that tommorrow after my return from the club.