Cangames - Sunday

Another early morning & into Cangames for the last day of the con.

The first game of the day was another Bolt Action WW2 game. In a scenario called "Recon to the Reichstag" I again teamed up with Glen & Ross (another gaming friend from my years in Ottawa). We played German forces with 2 others against several elements of Russians.

After divvying up our forces I ended up with a Pzr IV, Sdkfz Halftrack & a MG crew. I mounted the MG crew into the halftrack to make them a mobile platform.

I was pitted against 2 - T34's & a KV1. I managed to get some assistance from a young fella who was on our side & had 2 Panzershreck teams. He managed to knock out the 2 T-34's & I was able to finally score a good hit on the KV1 to take it out of action. I lost my halftrack & MG crew, using it to block the view of my Pzr IV.

Another T34/85 popped around the edge of the building & immobilized me.

My afternoon game was playing Ragnar Lothbrok in a Viking Raid of Northumbria (Saga style). I got to play said Ragnar. We had 4 players on each side.

The image below shows the table.

We had 2 forces of Vikings on each side of the river, against the Scots.

The goal was to hold the most buildings uncontested, as well as to not lose your Warlord.

My forces begin to advance.

It was a very bloody battle & I started my last turn with no one but Ragnar left standing. My opponent was also down to his Warlord & 2 Warriors. I played Loki & removed his warriors then moved in for the final battle.

After a flurry of blows, we slew one another, thus ending the battle for us both. Neither of us had rolled enough saves to survive.

During this time slot, another game of Doctor Who Miniatures was also running. Not sure how it ended but here are a couple images from the scenario - Snow Cap Base Armageddon.

Lastly a game of Zedwood, North Dakota was happening as well. Who doesn't love a game with Zombies! Though the real winner here is the terrain pieces used. Jim had done a fantastic job!

Thus ended another year of Cangames for me. There was one more evening slot, but I decided to skip it & head out to see the new Star Trek movie with a couple. All in all a good time & I will be looking forward to returning again next year.

 

 

Up next is the Morinville Town Wide Garage Sale tomorrow.

Cangames - Saturday

So after returning to my buddies place on Friday night, a few hours sleep, a quick shower & bite to eat, I returned to Cangames for another full day of gaming.

The first game of the day was "A Village too Far" using the Face of Battle rules by Mike Ball. Again I joined forces with Glen & Richard to play the German defenders. Elements of the 101st Airborne supported by British Armour were pushing thru a small village outside of Eindhoven, Holland.

Here we discuss our deployment.

Richard took this opportunity for a self portrait, with a view of the battlefield below.

Photo by Richard Dufault

 The British Armour deployed along the tables edge, while the Germans were hidden within the town. We had in effect, 3 squads of Falschirmjagers with a Stug III & an adhoc PzrJager R35 with a 47mm Cannon. We also had several Panzerfausts & 2 Panzershrecks.

Our forces objectives were to hold the stone buildings, as well as destroy the British Armour & prevent them from breaking thru.

The armour slowly advanced piecemeal with several tanks on overwatch. They didn't know that we were also moving into position & thus lost time while we deployed.

The PzrJager R35 was perfect for positioning behind a stone wall, its gun carriage was high enough to reach over it while most of the tank was hull down

Photo by Richard Dufault

Mike had scratchbuilt his model as the image below shows an actual version. 

 

I was able to disable/destroy the Sherman Crab and another Sherman trying to move up the road with my Panzerfausts, this did however leave my infantry without any further AT weapons.

We also had a wrecked armoured car which we deployed on the road & it did indeed draw fire when spotted, saving one of our 2 tanks from a shell

Photo by Richard Dufault

 A photo taken from the ground troops view.

Photo by Richard Dufault

 As time was drawing to a close, the British Armour started to try to race thru the German defences, which made it very hard for the Germans to hit them, of course they were not doing a good job of hitting anything either.

  

This allowed the Germans to garner a decisive victory.

 

Afternoon:

 

My afternoon was spent playing in a scenario called "Doctor Who - Battlefield Armageddon"

 

Using the Doctor Who Miniatures Game II, Brian Hearnden had elements of UNIT under attack by Arthurian Knights from the Future. As most of the games of Doctor Who I've played with Brian, they are all based on actual episodes from Doctor Who.

 

Elements of UNIT were guarding a convoy of Nuclear Missiles when Morgaine & Mordred attacked looking to unleash the Destroyer.

The Doctor & Ace arrive in Betsy to assist Brigadier Winifrid Bambera & Ancelyn, a knight from another dimension.

After Morgaine uses magic to blast into a covered archeology dig, Bambera & Ancelyn attempt to stop her, but are rendered unconscious.

The Doctor & Ace hurry to foil Morgaine's scheme.

Inside the buried ship, they find the tomb of Arthur & are able after several tense turns, foil & disable Morgaine. With the Destroyer once again banished & the door to the room sealed with the aid of his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor was able to encourage Mordred to leave for the safe return of his mother.

 

 

Evening:

 

My evening game was playing in the always enjoyable Rubberboots (Pulp) game run by Tod Creasey.

 

The scenario this year was "Rubberboots & the Cry of the Valkyries" using the Bolt Action rules. The synopsis was -  The end is nigh for the Reich as the allies close in on a secret Alpine industrial complex.

 

As is usual in this game, each player had their own objectives to obtain while attempting to deny the other players from getting theirs.

 

I got to hang with Rita (The Nazi She Wolf) & joined her with my own character Silberhelm of the SS. We started the game in the light coloured building & had the mission of secreting out Robo Hitler & my main objective was to get out with the case of secret papers.

 

 We also had some Mech's to defend our escape. Rita & I were given 2 options to get Robo-Hitler away, we could either call for a U-boat or an aircraft. We chose to try for the U boat.



 The allies also had Mech's to try to stop us.

Added to the mix were various factions of Cultists who summoned bizarre beasts & dinosaurs.

Luckily the cultist forces were our allies & covered our withdrawl, (unknowingly).

 Alas, our escape was foiled by the untimely hole punched thru the U-boat by a PIAT followed by a failed morale test by the crew. They sailed away leaving us behind.

Below is my force commanded by Silberhelm.

Another shot showing the combined forces of Silberhelm & Rita the SS She Wolf.

Lastly an image of the real life Rita & myself.

 

This game is likely the hi-light of my Cangames weekends, & I look forward to bringing forth Silberhelm once again in the next installment of Rubberboots!

 

I will likely post Sundays games within the next couple of days.

 

Cangames - Friday

Cangames started on Friday afternoon, & after getting thru registration I quickly ran into 2 buddies (Glen & Richard) who snagged me for a game of Eclipse

 

To be fair I had never even heard of this boardgame, but then my focus has mainly been miniature games.

 

Out of the box, this game looks daunting with lots of bits, ships, tokens etc. Glen is sitting to the left, Richard to his right, the other fellows I don't recall there names, sorry.

 

As this was the first time for  many of us, we all played humans

 

The player board is where the player keeps track of all his expenses, learned tech, resources, etc. Its quite a smooth layout once figured out.

The board is composed of hex tiles which form the universe. Each player begins with 1 hex, deploying his resource "cubes" to the map tile. As players explore, they can colonize newly found planets (more resources), battle aliens, find tech. The players may perform 1 action before it switches to the next person, they may then continue performing tasks, keeping in mind their expenses & costs in doing so. Once all players have passed, the turn ends.

 

The galaxy is eventually completed & then it becomes a battle, as players then begin battling one another. The game relates to Twilight Imperium, however this game does have a definite limit of 9 turns, so its doable in a typical convention time slot.

 

It was a pleasure to play again with my buddies & it wasn't long before the banter had us laughing at one another's misfortunes. Oh & yes the game was good!

 

Friday Evening Game

 

My evening slot was spent playing in the -

 

Operation Chastise - The Dambusters 70th Anniversary event. This rule set was homegrown & run by Bernhard.

 

The game pitted 8 players flying Lancaster's, avoiding both natural hazards, German defence's & lastly a success on getting the bomb on target.

 

Photo by Richard Dufault -  Thanks Buddy!

 Players rolled to see whom would make the run first. Players then chose which height to fly at, High, Medium or Low. Each level had its own inherent die rolls which would be made.

Players flying High, would be rolling against Night Fighters, Searchlights & 88 AA guns. Medium height rolled against Night Fighters, Searchlights & 20mm AA guns. Low height had to roll against terrain/obstacles, 20mm AA Guns & searchlights.

Players also received a deck of cards which could be used to negate having some effects occur, would repair malfunctions or most notably, effect the die roll at the dam (if you had any cards remaining)

Players then began flying 1 at a time for their bombing runs.

Below is a photo of an actual Compass from a Lancaster.

As I encountered it seems my guns were gummed up for most of the flight. I did fly the entire run at low level, as this would give me an opportunity to return fire.

I managed to make it 2/3rds down the board before taking any damage. Below is a shot of the plane I controlled. I was the last in the run.

The players had to do 6 damage points to the dam to blow it. We lost 2 of our Lanc's on the way in. By the time I was doing my run, we needed just 1 point to succeed. Lucky for us I had 2 bonus cards to use to modify the dice roll, for if I hadn't we would have failed...but as the image below shows...the dam was blown!!!

 

This ended my Friday night at the con. Off I went to grab a few hours of sleep & then it would be "Game On!" But those posts will need to wait until I return to Edmonton tomorrow.