Play Test of Robert's Rules of Disorder

Last Friday a group of us got together for an enjoyable play test Napoleonics game using my friend Robert's own rules which we affectionately call "Robert's Rules of Disorder". I am not sure if this is the working title or not but that's what we're using. Some of the games base mechanics draw from one of our favorite rule sets, Volley & Bayonet, mostly due to our desire to re-use our 15mm collections without re-basing. Robert has re-build from the ground up most of the rules and has his own unique combat system that features much more predictable attrition while still providing for good variance of outcomes. The combat system also includes all of the expected modifiers for each tactical situation.

For the game we had a game of France versus a Ruso-Prussian force. Ed and I played the coalation and Charlie, Ralph and George played the French. We were able to kill a bunch of troops and try out some of each type of combat: ranged artillery and small arms, close combat infantry versus cavalry, cavalry versus cavalry and cavalry versus artillery. Robert left with a good pile of notes.

I believe this is the 2nd or 3rd play test of these rules I've been involved with. Each time the rules have made good amounts of improvement, and they're already fun to play. Our club is doing a lot of good creative work the past couple of years. We have at least a half dozen rule sets in various states of completion. All of this creativity has been a catalyst for a lot of great gaming.

Electronic Brigadier at Huzzah! Convention - May 16th, 2015

Come see a demo of the The Electronic Brigadier at the Huzzah! convention in Portland, Maine on May 16th, 2015. I will be running my Freeman's Farm scenario during the 2pm - 6pm session. The event number is 410. Unfortunately the game is already full, but I welcome people to stop by and see the rules in action.

Fore more information about the scenario and photos of it being run at the 2014 Carnage convetion, you can see my past blog post about those games. I hope to see you at Huzzah! Stop by my table to take a peek at the Electronic Brigadier rules in action.

Recent Ebay Purchases

Recently I picked up two batches of figures and a Sherman tank from three different sellers on Ebay. The first auction was nine more ancient Greek hoplites from the same seller that I got my previous batch from. As seen below, this completes a full wing of four stands of hoplites for Marathon to Marius. All I have to add is an officer and some soldiers or skirmishers. Both of the latter likely to include the Thracians I re-based earlier in the year. These figures came based for an unknown rule set. I re-based them for as shown.

The next group are some 28mm WWII British commandos. The group includes a forward observer, a 3-man Vickers heavy/medium machine gun crew, a 3-man command team, a 10-man infantry squad and a 2-man piat team. This is a pretty solid starter kit towards a British command for Bolt action.

Last but not least, a 28mm Bolt Action resin and lead Sherman 75mm. I liked this model because it was well weathered with mud and without markings. The latter makes it suitable for Americans or for British or Russian lend/lease use. I'll most likely use it with the Commandos shown above.

Northern Conspiracy April 2015 Game Day

Yesterday was our club game day. Normally we do a single session game night on a Friday evening, but this month's event was an all day Saturday game day with two sessions. During the morning session I played in my friend Byron's Indian Mutiny game. Byron is shown to the left in the red shirt going over the game mechanics. Byron's game used the Brother Against Brother ACW skirmish rule set, slightly modified by Byron for use with the Indian Mutiny period.

Byron's games feature beautiful terrain and figures and are always well run. This one was no exception as you can see from the photos below. The scenario was a hypothetical rescue of some loyal citizens (recently painted and shown in close up below) by crown troops. The citizens, held up in a small compound were protected by some local loyal forces. The compound was attacked by mutineers from one table edge and a relief force of crown forces were arriving from the opposite table edge. Present at the game was a new guest, Mark shown below in the tan shirt and beard.

Also run in the morning session were Mark D's war of 1812 game, and Pete's WWI naval combat game. I took a few quick photos which are shown below.

In the afternoon I played in my friend Charlie's Napoleonic game using his own rules, Napoleon's Rules of War. The scenario was Ruffin’s and Villatte’s attack at Talavera 28 July 1809. Rob and I played the German forces and Kevin, Bob and Ralph played the French.

Rob and I set up about half of our forces on the defensive ridge and the remaining we kept behind in a mobile formation to deploy as the French advanced. The French deployed enough across our front to keep us from leaving the ridge while their main attack went in on our left, which I defended by rushing our reserve into line there. With our cavalry arriving, Kevin was forced to form square, which our horse artillery punished with very effective fire (my dice were smokin' hot). Elsewhere the French attacked our center with cavalry as we couldn't form square due to the presence of French artillery in the sector. The cavalry punched a hole in our center, but then were forced to surrender behind our lines due to withering fire from our reserve. As the French tried to exploit the hole our reserves also rushed in to plug the void in the line, both arriving at about the same time. That sector stabilized while Kevin's flank attack was blunted by our artillery and infantry line. Victory to the Germans. Due to my hot dice, I received the table award, a tiny bottle of Chivas Regal scotch!

Sincere apologies to Michael, who ran the other afternoon game as I didn't get photos of his medieval skirmish game, Robin hood vs. the sheriff of Nottingham. Michael's games are always great fun and feature his home brew rules, Have Fun Storming the Castle Lads.

First Legion Hastati and Principes

This is two units of hastati, two units of principes and a legion command stand. I finished painting these a while ago and posted a WIP shot to this blog about them. The figures are exclusively Old Glory and they are based for my uncle's rules, Marathon to Marius. These go with the red shielded Triarii and Velites that I completed and posted earlier to complete the infantry portion of my first legion. Once I have two full legions worth of infantry painted up I'll paint up the cavalry to finish both of them off.

All of these figures were finished using the Future dip method that I tested on my Vorenus and Pullo sample figures. The final recipe that I settled on was a bit darker than the test figures. all in all I like the effect just as much as the Army Painter Quick Shade and it's cheaper, and doesn't cause enamel metallic paints to bleed and run.

 This is a shot of the entire red legion infantry. The legion includes a single stand of Triarii, two Principes, two Hastati, two velites and a command stand.

A photo of my back yard to explain the high contrast white background. Yes on March 29th we still have plenty of snow on the ground. In fact it snowed all day Saturday, although not much of it accumulated. Old man winter is a bit tenacious this year and refuses to accept that his time is over.

Rome vs Carthage - Marathon to Marius House Rules

Friday evening we got together to play a Rome vs. Carthage game using my uncle's ancients, previously called "Hannibal at the Gates" now renamed to "Marathon to Marius". Previous posts on this blog labeled "HATG" have been retroactively labeled "MTM" to reflect the name change.

The game was a pickup game, not part of our campaign and featured classic 2nd Punic armies. Rome brought two Roman and two allied legions and a small group of Praetorian guards and Extrodinarii. The Carthaginian army was based on Hanno's army in Northern Italy and contained two warrior wings, a large contingent of Gaul warriors, and a large contingent of Ligurian/Trans-Alpine Gauls. Also with Hanno was a wing of Spanish including Scutari and cavalry and a small contingent of African veteran spearmen and Carthaginian cavalry. Shown in most of the photos, the players of Rome, Rob, Ralph and Charlie. Below right, the Carthiginian right wing commander Don. Not pictured was the other Carthaginian commander Bob and myself.

This was a GREAT game. Both armies slugged it out right to the end with the final turn exhausting both armies when the very last two units to fight in the last turn eliminated each other. Everyone played well and everyone at some point had good and bad luck. I had a lot of fun..thanks to everyone especially Ralph for hosting.