I spent the long weekend in Ottawa attending Cangames 2025. Staying with a military buddy, Jay & his boys. We got to get some games in together.
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| used with permission |
Friday got off to a bit of a muddled start. The game I had originally signed up for was a no-show until a couple hours later. This ended up being a good thing however, as I was able to jump into Mike's Dead Man's Hand game.
We played 3 scenarios, starting with 1 character, then 3, the our whole gang. The first game went quick. I split my gang with Glen who was looking for a game. We played the Plains Indian gang.
In our last game, due to our lack of guns, we kept the gang close to each other, planning to use swarm tactics to overwhelm their targets.
The downside was, that if we didn't take out the opponent, it left our melee members in point-blank range. As it turned out, the other gang was able to take out enough of our gang to force both of us to take Big Morale tests, which we both failed...leaving the town to return to normalcy. Thanks Mike for hosting the game!
Next up was Gordians Drive East: Rome invades Persia using the Art de la Guerre ruleset.
I played the Persians with Duncan & Jay.
We had some good success at removing 3 rough areas from the field. Below is the field we fought over.
Jay with his mounted force on the right flank.
I had some light & medium bow mounted on the left flank, supported by Duncan's Elite Cataphract Cav. My Light Cav have already advanced to begin shooting the Roman Cav.
Things quickly got dicey as my force was getting splintered into smaller elements, thus making it tougher to spend command points. At the bottom left of the image my light horse element is getting hit by some Roman light horse.
Eventually it became a huge melee as both sides were locked in....for several turns (I kept rolling 1's with a +3 mod) However I also had some elements loose behind his force heading towards their fortified camp.
We eventually broke his flank & were preparing to ride onto their infantry flank in the centre when the game came to a close with a Persian victory. Thanks Todd for the game!
Saturday! The long con day with an early start (9am) & somewhat late evening. The day started with a Walking Dead game.
Each player had a 3 member group for the scenario. As there was an extra player who was about to not get into the game, I offered him one of my group members so he could play. I ended up giving him Sandra (on the right of the image) as the 3rd member was classed as a ward.
This was the first time I got play this ruleset & quite liked it. I do own it, but it, like so many of my games, is stashed away as other priorities arise. The main objective was to find supplies, which depending what you found would provide varying amounts of VP's...Meds were highest on this list. Of course if you found them, then needed to use them, you would lose out on the VP's but keep your characters alive. The main objective to find these supplies was a Quik-e-Mart.
While Abraham & the ward (can't recall his name) took down a walker, Sandra ran up to a van & began to scavange (you draw from a deck to see what was inside).
Score! Sandra found some bandages!
Another group of survivors nearby were not so lucky...finding Lurkers within! The walkers generally don't move about unless you run, make loud noises, etc. So they will only act within a certain distance. Gunfire however makes for a bigger radius to worry about & all within that radius will move.
There are also event cards each turn & a threat track, which will impact your characters based on their morale levels. There is opportunity to bring down a lot of grief on other survivor groups or even shoot them yourself (which some players did of course).
In the afternoon it was Injurious Games, one of the original creations of the Ottawa Red Shirts. The game pits 4 squads (each containing the same soldiers) against one another. During the game 'Power-Up' tokens will appear which adds more abilities to the soldier who successfully spends an action to grab it.
The evening game was Rubberboots & a Bad Moon Over Cairo. This year Todd again used the Silver Bayonet ruleset which pits 8 players with their gangs vying over various objectives, usually with an opposing player after the same thing.
The Rubberboot games are always Pulpy regardless of ruleset & as you continue to get into the games, Todd creates special characters to represent you, & you will then get to play them in every game going forward. He also ensures there are a couple of generic groups for newcomers.
There are numerous objective & clue tokens, which when revealed could be treasures, monsters, or cause an event to happen....one never knows with Todd!
A look down at the far end of the board where our other 2 allies are up to the stream.
On our end of the table, there was a massive engagement over the Gold Sarcophagus, which was my objective. My gang wasn't here yet however & I was relying on my ally to keep the opponents occupied while I moved towards the location. This was one of those rare games where 90% of my dicerolls were successes & I was able to decimate an opponets ranged troops with my own musket fire. The win came down to a final die-roll, however that was at the far end of the table. The gangs at our end were left with many corpses & empty pockets.
Sunday started with an ECW game using the Pike & Shotte Ruleset from Warlord Games. This was the Battle of Glastonbury.
I played the Royals with Jay, Rob & Ben. Our objective was to get 3 elements past the village (represented by the building). Below is the Royal forces at the top of the image. I played one of the infantry brigades & had the Light Cannon attached.
Things started well, with my being able to advance 3 times & got over the hedge. I believe the other Infantry brigade also had good success with his moves. Alas, our mounted units failed to do anything (for the next 2 turns)
Getting close to having some melee, when the casualties really begin to show. This was the infantry brigade played by Ben.
On my flank, I successfully routed the dismounted dragoons & pushed back his infantry, allowing me to cross the hedge. The opponents mounted on the left of the image were attempted to come to grips with Jays mounted.
I turned one of my infantry to provide some flank shots on the enemy mounted. Both sides suffered losses to the mounted troops on our flanks, however the Royals persevered & their remaining units began to ride forward. We had also destroyed their cannon unit & were pressing forward.
With the mounted threat destroyed it was time to finish off the remaining enemy on our flank. The most amazing occurance was the attack the opponent had on the flank of my cannon on the road. We each rolled one hit. I had rolled a 6 which disrupted him & then rolled a 6 on my save. Thus he lost the combat & recoiled. This was a Royalist Victory. Another game where my dice did extremely well....& this is rare!
There was another Rubberboots game being run by Todd in the afternoon, but I was unable to play. It was titled Rubberboots & the Last Bridge over the Berezina. I did grab a couple shots of the table before they started as I was in another game.
Brian arrived & set up his Doctor Who - The
Visitation London is Burning 1666
Background: A Terileptil (Alien) space ship has
crashed landed near London, England circa 1666, a time when the city is alive
with plague and is a tinderbox with the constant threat of fire. The three surviving aliens have decided to settle
on earth and remove the human infestation to make room for their race. The
Terileptis have set up a laboratory in a building on Pudding Lane in London
where they are producing an enhanced bubonic plague virus to infect rats, which
they plan to disseminate throughout the city to wipe out humanity. A cart with
vials of plague virus had been dispatched by the Aliens controlled humans to
infect rats in other part of London. The Terileptils have also set up a Soliton
gas generator in their lab to produce the type of atmosphere they need to
survive. However a meddling Time Lord and his allies are attempting to thwart
the Terileptil’s plan and their generator has broken down after a minor
explosion. The lab is currently deserted other than an unconscious wounded
Terileptil as the Aliens have returned to their crashed ship to get spare parts
to repair the broken generator. Now all concerned are converging on the lab or
the cart.
Brian opted to use the Pulp Alley rules rather than the Doctor Who Miniatures Game ruleset.
The various features of the game were the plot points (yellow) where the players could get keys for the central building. Swarms or rats which were roving perils (orange), 2 patrols...also a roving peril (orange) As well as some piles of offal, which could spark into a fire each turn (orange)
I chose to play the Terileptis. My leader attempted to gain a key from the plotpoint, but needed 3 successes, which took a couple of turns to aquire.
The second part of the game was set for 2 players who were either escorting or attempting to hijack a cart carrying the plague for deployment.
Sure enough we had some offal ignite, with the winds increasing, this would cause the fires to spread!
The Doctor had an easier challenge & got his key quick, he then made for the central building & was the first to enter
Looking over the room he sees the generator in the rooms centre.
Eventually the other factions got in the building as well & it became a free-for-all with well placed companions holding the doors while the Doctor worked to destroy the generator.
I am quite sure the Doctor won the day....which is just as it should be. We had 2 new players who don't play miniature games signed up & it was great to see, that by turn 3, they had a good grasp of the system. Thanks Brian for running this!
Thus ends another Cangames & now the planning starts for next year! Thanks for taking the time to follow along.
