NQSYW Imagi-Nation Battle Report

This past Saturday the forces of the Pragmatic Coalition(Booo!)and the Northern Alliance(Yay!) met again on the field of battle in another engagement in our "Not Quite Seven Years War"(NQSYW) project using 40mm homecast figures and the vintage "Charge!" rules. Readers may remember that we had a battle last month(See:http://onemoregamingproject.blogspot.com/2012/08/nqsyw-and-uncharted-seas-game-day.html for a full report) during which the forces of the Northern Alliance, with North Polenburg in the fore, handed the Pragmatic Coalition armies a sound defeat at the Battle of the Bridge. I, as the overall commander of the North Polenburg armies, gave much of the credit to my "General's Hat" which surely struck awe into our foes. This time around, sadly, my hat had no such effect.
     This latest scenario, GM-ed by Rob Dean, focused on the defence of two small hamlets and a redoubt by the Armies of North Polenburg. Even though our objectives only required us to hold the northern most redoubt (as well as the two hamlets), there were three redoubts on the table, each manned by a cannon and crew. Arrayed against us was a Pragmatic Coalition army comprised mainly of units from Rob Dean's Schoeffen-Buschhagen Army and Norman Dean's Wachovian forces.   However valiantly we tried to defend our objectives, the day was carried by our enemies.

The commander surveys his forces. My General's Hat couldn't help me this time... 

A look at the North Polenburg deployment; The 1st  Regiment "The Hawks" is in the foreground, the Queen Jennifer Regiment holds the center, and behind them is the 32nd Dragoons on their all white mounts.  Our objectives were to hold the hamlet to the south (just visible at the bottom of the picture, the other hamlet in he center, and the redoubt in the far distance near the top left corner of the table.  Unseen in the far woods, is a hidden light company from the Queen Jennifer Regt.

The forces of the Pragmatic Coalition arrayed against us, launch their attack.

The opening of the battle.  Schoeffen-Buschhagen's (SB) Prinz Norman Dragoons charges the 1st Company of the Queen Jennifer (QJ) Regt. as the 32nd Dragoons charge up in support. 

A fateful turn in the battle.  For some reason that even now I can't explain, I throw my dragoons out into a line in the face of the approaching infantry. It seemed like a good idea at the time....

And the result:  The SB vonNordhafen Regiment opens fire on the 32nd Dragoon's 1st Squadron, eliminating 2/3rds of them in a single volley the 3rd squadron on the right flank fared little better, while the 2nd Squadron in the center successfully meleed the Prinz Norman Dragoons  facing them.

Meanwhile, the SB King Rupert Jaegers have stumbled upon our hidden light company (red facings) in the woods, taking a hard volley that kills three of them.  Both units then charge into melee.

The 1st Company of the QJ Regt. falls back to regroup after their melee with the  Prinz Norman Dragoons.  The regiment's vivandiere offers them water, as the nearby colonel of the regiment keeps an eye on the defence of the hamlet's barn.

As the first Pragmatic Coalition regiment (SB Adelmann Regiment) storms the hamlet's barn, the QJ Grenadiers march forward to hold the wide open left flank. Meanwhile the remnants of the shattered dragoons regroup themselves.

Boxcars!  The 2nd Company of the QJ Regt., holding the barn, deliver a shattering volley to the SB Adelmann Regiment, as they try to storm the barn.  The enemy regiment is soon after reduced to less than 50% strength and must withdraw from the field. But not to worry for them, as a fresh Pragmatic Coalition regiment (2 Companies of Weigenbugers and an attached Company of SB Schultheiss) moves up behind them to take their place.

The loss of the northern redoubt.  A company of SB von Nordhafen prepares to charge the redoubt, the gunners (North Polenburg engineers pressed into service due to a lack of artillery figures) scatter at the sight of the approaching enemy.

The heroic stand of the QJ Grenadiers.  The grenadiers manage to kill enough of the charging cavalry to force them to retire, meanwhile on their right, the QJ 1st Company moves back up to close the gap between the Grenadiers and the 2nd Company in the barn.

Meanwhile, on the North Polenburg right, the 1st Regiment (The Hawks) is still holding as the Wachovian Regt. try to force one company of  "the Hawks" from the hamlet, as a company of Wachovian Dragoons has made its way around into one of the redoubts where another "Hawks" company is stubbornly defending.  The central redoubt has already fallen to a company of Wachovians.   The enemy has also brought up three guns to try and batter the unit defending the hamlet on the right. 

The end is near.  The Wiegenburgers Regt. prepares to fire upon the already damaged QJ 1st Company.  The resulting casualties, plus further casualties on the Grenadiers from their melee with the von Nordhafen Regt. , puts the Regiment below 50%, and it is forced to retire from the field.

The scene at the end on the right.  "The Hawks" still hold the redoubt, but are in danger of losing the hamlet, and try to move up their reserve company to defend it.  But with the Queen Jennifer Regiment retreating from the field on their left, the cause has become hopeless.

Even though my co-commander, Steve Gelhard, and I lost; it was still a really fun game, and as always, visually spectacular to witness.  I am already looking forward to our next encounter and North Polenburg's chance to avenge themselves.

HAWKs' BARRAGE XVI Game Day a Success

The HAWKs held their one day BARRAGE XVI miniatures gaming convention this past Saturday, September 15th. By all accounts it was huge success with a record attendance and  record number of dealers present in a new spacious and well lit venue.
There was a large selection of great looking games as well as a whole table dedicated to just kids games.  There was also a Flames of War tournament at the convention this year.
   The club is already making plans for next year.

An overview of the new convention site, The Havre De Grace Community Center.

This year the HAWKs had a well attended Flames of War tournament at the convention. The sponsors are looking forward to coming back again next year.

Mark Fastoso's The Tower Helmets WWII North Africa game using "Fireball Forward" rules.

Whoever is worried about the graying of the hobby, fear not; the HAWKs were pleased to see  a large number of kids come along with their folks for a day of gaming, and not just at the kids table.

Steve Gelhard's "Shako II" Napoleonic game.

A close up of the "Shako II" game, Morning of Morengo



David Cochran's Belisarious vs. the Visigoths game, using modified "Kings of War" rules.

Gamers had a several dealers and flea marketers to shop at during the con.

A view of the hall mid day during the peak of the action.

Another view of the hall.

I ran a series of four well received, hour long, "Look, Sarge, No Charts:WWII" demo games.

A last minute addition to the game line-up was this War of the Worlds game using GASLIGHT rules. The hosts did a great job in what was apparently the first convention game they ever ran. 

Kurt Schlegel's Attack on Santa's Village game, using GASLIGHT rules, was a big hit with the kids.

P. Heffner's Aerodrome games are always a big hit at Barrage with kids and adults alike.

Another "Look Sarge, No Charts: Fantasy, Ancients, & Medievals" Playtest

Set up for our club's one day miniatures gaming convention, BARRAGE XVI, happened to fall on one of our regular meeting nights this year, so we decided to just go ahead and hold our meeting after we were finished getting ready for the convention, right there in the Community Center where we were setting up
    . One of the games we ran was another playtest of our under-development "Look,Sarge, No Charts: Fantasy, Ancients, & Medievals" (LSNC:FAM) rules, using 10mm figures. This was the first run of these rules for the club at large, and in general they were very favorably received. We still have a number of kinks to work out, but I'm really thrilled by the look and feel of the games so far.

A Goblin hoard with bats, giants, and a giant spider attached.

On the left flank of the "Good" side, High Elf cavalry tries to stem the on-rushing "Evil" hoards of minotaurs, demonic trees, and evil giant eagles. 

An overview of the table.

In the center of the battle, High Elf infantry, backed up by legions of Wood Elves, faces off against an assortment of evil humans and dwarves.

Another view of the table.  In the end, though the side of "Good" had broken through the center of the "Evil" side's line, both of their flanks were soundly beaten by the forces of "Evil", so the "Evil" forces were declared the victors 

Halloween Spider Decoration "Giant Spider" Fantasy Unit

It's the time of the year when you can get all kinds of Halloween decorations that are useful for wargaming purposes.  One of those things is packs of tiny plastic spiders. These can easily be turned into "Giant Spider" units for all scales of  Fantasy gaming. 
I recently took a pack I had purchased a couple years ago, and stuck away in a box, and converted them into a great looking unit for my 10mm "Look,Sarge, No Charts: Fantasy, Ancients and Medievals"  armies.

The spiders I got were a pale white-ish green color, so I knew for the start that I would need to spray them black.

A quick coat with some Krylon Camouflage Flat Black, and they were ready to go.  I then glued them on their bases and gave them a fast gray dry-brushing, and some red eyes.

The finished unit.  I got enough in that little pack to make four base and a leader stand.  The bases are 3 x 1.5 inches.

Here they can be seen attacking a unit of 10mm Warmaster High Elves.

More 10mm Fantasy Painted

Our recent Look, Sarge, No Charts: Fantasy Ancients & Medieval playtest (see previous post), inspired me to paint some more of the 10mm fantasy figures I have on hand.  While the bulk of my forces came from the Games Workshop "Battle of Five Armies"  Warmaster set, I've also picked up some stuff from ebay, sellers on The Miniatures Page, and Eureka Miniatures.  I'm currently building High Elf, and Wood Elf armies for the "Good Guys", and Skeleton, and Goblin armies for the "Bad Guys" 
    Below are some of the figures I have finished these past two weeks. For a sense of size, the square bases are 1.5 x 1.5 inches, and the rectangular bases are 3 x 1.5 inches. You can click on any picture to see it larger.

This is a Games Workshop Elf Hero on Dragon.  This came in a lot of painted 10mm Warmaster figures I bought from  a seller on TMP, but was only partially completed. So, I finished the painting, changing some of the original colors, and did most of the detail work.

Here is another view of the Elf Hero on Dragon.  This will probably serve as the leader for my High Elf armies. The dragon is supposed to have horns at the back of its head, but they were missing when I got him, and I don't think it's that noticable that they're gone.

This is another Games Workshop figure that was part of my TMP purchase. Here again, it was only partially finished, so I completed the painting, especially the eagle which needed to be repainted completely.

Another view of the Hero riding an Eagle.

These are from Eureka's great line of 10mm Fantasy figures, and are elves riding stags.   These will be the cavalry for my Wood Elf army.  These figures are wielding bows, and I have another base of these armed with spears, that I have not finished yet.

Another view of the elves on stags.

These figures are from the Battle of Five Armies set.  They are a Goblin Chieftain and retinue, and a Goblin Shaman.

And a view of the back of the two Goblin bases.

Here is a Goblin Hero riding a wolf that is from the Battle of Five Armies set as well.

And here is a picture of the reverse side of the figure.

These figures are from Eureka, and are dryads.  They will be part of my Wood Elf army.

Here is another view of them.  I really like the Eureka 10mm line. there is a lot of detail in it as well as very dynamic poses.

And finally, another Eureka Figure.  She and the dryads came in a Woodland Creatures pack that also has some wolfhounds and a forest demi-god in it. She will be the sorceress for my Wood Elf  army.

Another view of the Sorceress.