Pikeman's Lament 30 Years War Game at Ed M's

I got together with fellow Bloggers Ed M and Mark D (click their names to see their blogs) for a game of Pikeman's Lament that Ed was hosting for Mark and I. Both Mark and I are relatively new to playing the rules and Ed wanted to polish up his hosting skills for the rules. 

As you can see, Ed hosts a beautiful game. The scenario was a meeting engagement in the 30 Years War with mirror forces (for ease of teaching the rules). Mark and I both got up to speed fairly quickly. Mark's ran afoul of the dice in shooting and I in activation throughout the game. It started off with me blasting one of Mark's cavalry units with musketry, then mark did the same to my pike block. Mark followed this up with an aggressive push from his pike drawing my gallopers into charge range, which they failed to resist and went into the pike to their detriment. 

The following turns I got some activation dice (finally) and shot up mark's Dragoons and turned his flank threatening his pike with caracole and musketry which it wasn't well prepared to defend against without his dragoons. I also did a number on his commanded shot with my own commanded shot and musketeers. 

This was a fun game. It's definitely a bit of beer and pretzels. General dice matters as much as tactics and strategy that's for sure. Have a game then pop off to the pub as the Brits would say. Thanks for the fun afternoon to both of my fellow Northern Conspirators and bloggers.

Nexus Play Test

This past Friday my uncle had us over for a play test of the latest version of his 30 Years War rules, Nexus. These were the original source for his Ancient's rules, Hannibal at the Gates. Now that the latter have reached their 2nd edition, some of the lessons learned have been brought back to Nexus. This play test was to give them all a ringing out.

I played opposite Charlie who had a nice combined arms force of Swedish-model infantry, light artillery and battle cavalry. My command was similarly comprised of all combined arms, but my European standard pike were outnumbered 2:1 and outclassed. My cavalry was also at a disadvantage. My guns however, were excellent. Covering my flank was Ed with a fine selection of troops including some elite cavalry and large Tercios of pike, so no worries there, I could focus on Charlie's threats.

I sent my aggressive Croat cavalry out..er...aggressively. Live by the sword, die by the sword. Unfortunately the latter was mostly true. They took out some of Charlie's auxiliary troops, but other than that mostly just blew themselves up on Charlie's battle cavalry. My superior guns were also mediocre in their effectiveness. No fault of the guns, blame the operator.

Stripped of all the chaff, it was time to press with my pike. With Charlie's superior firepower, getting stuck in was my only real option. Unfortunately in the one turn I had to approach his infantry, Charlie scored seven (7) hits on one round of fire. That pretty much ended it on our flank. Lucky for the Catholics, the opposite flank was going equally poorly for the Protestants, evening out my misfortune. As the game drew to a conclusion the battle lines were in a classic 'pinwheel of death' with the outcome to be decided.

I expect that you'll be seeing more Nexus game play here on the blog throughout the upcoming year.

30 Years War Skirmish at Ed's

My friend Ed from Ed M's Wargame Meanderings Blog invited my friend George and I to his gaming loft for a play test of the game he's going to run at the Huzzah! Convention later this month. Ed's game is a 30 Years War skirmish using his own rules. The game featured Ed's wonderfully painted figures with both mounted and matching dismounted figures as well as beautiful terrain, mostly from Miniature Building Authority, with other various bits tossed in. The scenario is set in a post-battle-ravaged town, with Croats, Cossacks and other various looting troops trying to raid a supply depot that was put in the town during the battle, but guarded by an inadequate force. I was given command of a squad of Croats - just my style! They're pictured to the left, mounted and dismounted. Each figure is used as desired to represent the character on the table.

Ed goes over the rules and the scenario. The rules feature a points budget for each figure from which it buys actions, move, shoot, fight, manipulate the environment, etc. The system is very straight forward and easy for convention goers to pick up quickly. Figures last a little bit in combat and are rarely 'one shot'. This means a small squad of figures with which you get to do a lot. Fun.

Ed's known for his work with the word processor and desktop publishing software. His game's QRS and troop tracking cards are helpful and easy to understand. 

As for the game, because it was a play test, we only played a few rounds and then had fun talking about the rules and scenario to help Ed tune the game for Huzzah!

I dashed in with my Croats, dismounted two with muskets and two with pistols. My officer tended to the horses and shouted orders. I bribed one of the quartermaster's men who shot at Ed half heartedly and then ran. My muskets placed a scalding volley on George causing absolutely no damage. My other troops fired on Ed causing only a minor wound. The Croats weren't very good shots rolling five ones out of six die rolls including a 'snake eyes' roll to damage on the one shot I hit.

Ed and George fought a melee in which Ed charged in mounted against one of George's kneeling musket-armed troopers. George counter-charged with another man who drew his sword and made the affair an even fight. Ed still carried the battle due to the fortunes of war. Speaking of fortunes, George picked up an array of small arms in the looting and 10 guilders. Ed scored a couple guilders from two different loot piles. I got only two guilders from the loot store under the Quartermaster's table. Never hide the best loot in plain sight I guess.

This was a fun relaxing evening with friends. The game, for Huzzah! looks to be a fun one; as George would say, 'a ripping yarn'.
 

May 2013 Game Night

Last Friday was our club's monthly game night for May. For a holiday weekend we had a very good turn out. Three games were run, and all had plenty of players or were full. I played in my friend Ed's Thirty Years War game. This is a game he's been working on for a while and has written the rule set for himself. He calls it a 'battle management' game. The main mechanism revolves around pulling units out of the main line of combat when they become worn to replace them with fresh units. Managing the rest and recuperation of your worn units and keeping a proper reserve are keys to success.

My opponent Phil (below taking a photo) played well and had good dice. Over the course of the game I went from having a superior force to hanging on by my finger nails. Ed called time just before things got ugly.

 

Other games were a Column, Line & Square Napoleonics game run by my friend Pete S. (left) and my friend Mark D. ran his Falklands war game (right) that I play tested last week. From what I hear our suggested changes from the play test made a big difference and game was very good.