CLUB OPEN GAME DAY 2026 COMING UP

 

Last Year's Club Open Game Day

Greetings, dear reader(s). Although blogging has been lagging, there has been hobby action 'round here, so I thought I'd pop in to give a small update.  Once again, our club will be holding an Open Game Day (Saturday, Oct 24). These are distinct from our club "Game Day" events, which are just for members--where we put on big games that can't be done on game nights: the last of these was our Mongol Invasion of Hungary game.  Unlike the Mongol Game Day, I am not among the main organizers of our upcoming Open Game Day, but I have been busy providing supporting assistance to the organizers as well as preparing to host a game. 

You may be wondering what an Open Game Day might consist of, and I'm glad you asked!  It is, as the name suggests, a one-day "convention," consisting of a morning and an afternoon session of participation games (four in each).  We'll also be providing lunch onsite so nobody has to go out (more time for games!). Here is the lineup for 2026 (click for BIG PIX--hopefully, the image will resize to be read-able):

AM Session

PM Session

I'll be running my Baroque Battles Battle of Rocroi game. 

As the above image shows, I've run this game before, in playtest at my house and on a club game night (pictured above), so it has been well proofed and I am practiced at running it. This should provide for a smooth event (although I may still find a way to gum it up!).  Despite being a re-run game for our club,  it will be new to non-club members, who are the focus of the open gameday--and it is a novel game system for a novel period (6mm, gridded, Thirty Years War). In this way, it will also contribute to the range of games on show, both in scale and period: one of the aims of our open game days is to showcase historical miniatures gaming for those who may not be familiar with it (aside from the over-riding objective, of course, of having a fine day out playing with toy soldiers and meeting new people). 

Rocroi miniatures and other game parts sorted and ready to go. It will all fit nicely into a tub--easy to shift, set up, and take down, an advantage of 6mm gaming. Big fun in small spaces. 

If you're reading this and are in the Northern New England area, feel free to drop in. We'll be at the Best Western Hotel, Portsmouth New Hampshire (At the Portsmouth Traffic Circle). Start time 9:00 a.m.

Excelsior!

OTHER PEOPLE'S CHOCOLATE BOX WARS

 

A shot of the action, mid game: Americans to the left and Russians to the right. 

Greetings, dear reader(s). This is a bit of a delayed post relating a Chocolate Box Wars (henceforth abbreviated CBW) game that I facilitated for two friends. The point of the game (aside from the point of any game with toy soldiers) was to debut their new armies.  Yes, friends, in these parts the CBW fever continues in the wake of our tournament, so much so that fellows are building their own armies...

George (left) brought his newly finished Spanish-American era U.S. Army to the table, and pitted it against Earl's Crimean War Russian army. 

This was a "tournament style" game with each side putting together a force using the base CBW army list, and then proceeding with the "quick start" process of terrain placement and troop deployments. The terrain wound up being rather sparse, with a linear obstacle (two 6" wall segments) in the center of the table and some hills to the wings.  Both sides then maneuvered forward and the battle shook out into two lines having at each other (sounds dull, but there was more back and forth to it in the event).  I won't have a blow by blow description, but I thought I'd share some images of their CBW armies in action. As usual, in this post, you may clix pix for BIG PIX. 

George's Spanish American War U.S. CBW army. 

To generate the different troop types, George used sailors for his Veteran inf, U.S. infantry in the blue over khaki campaign uniforms for his line inf, dismounted cavalry troopers for light inf, cavalry in home service helmets as well as Spanish American type cavalry in the western hats (for his heavy and light cavalry). He also had a few other variable elements tossed in. I must say that I was very impressed at his inventiveness. I knew that, technically, my CBW system would support this option, but was not sure that all the figures existed to pull it off. It is a unique looking force, indeed, and well done!

Earl's Crimean War Russians

Earl didn't have quite the same challenge as George in finding figures to put together the Crimean Russians, but he did get some very nice variety in the army by mixing in different headgear and great coat colors to distinguish some troop types as well as to add color--along with the flags. The touches of color on top of the greatcoats really jump out and elevate the look of the army on the table. Another very well done collection. 

The Game

George's Sailors (in white) leading the assault on the Earl's Russians holding the wall, mid game. 

The game in sum: for the first few turns, both armies suffered the curse of the first outing--with each side exchanging a series of missed activations. However, things then got into a more "normal" range and after some back and forth in the middle of the table, Earl's Russians outlasted George's Americans and had the day. It was a good debut for these new CBW forces, and a good refresher on the rules ahead of a CBW tournament/campaign that we'll be having this autumn (when we'll no doubt see a rematch between these armies, among others).  

Excelsior!

DANES V PRUSSIANS: 1st SCHLESWIG HOLSTEIN WAR

 

The Prussian Advance

Greetings, dear reader(s).  Recently, I wanted to introduce fellow Chocolate Box Wars (CBW) enthusiasts in the club to an alternate use for their CBW armies. Specifically, using my Volley and Bayonet battalion scale post-19th Century variant. In this case, the multi-stand version, which pre-dated CBW and shares the same figure and stand structure.  I had intended that there would be four players with me facilitating, but one of the lads couldn't make it, so I wound up taking up the fourth seat and both playing and facilitating. The players had all participated in the CBW Tournament, so were keene to find an expanded use for their budding Post-Napoleonic CBW collections. As usual, in this post, you may clix pix for BIG PIX.

The scenario was an amalgam of my Frontier Clash and Battle of Schleswig scenarios. I pitted Danes against Prussians in a meeting engagement. The intent of the scenario was to promote engagement so that players would get exposure to full rules system. Towards these ends, each player had two brigades, with a lead brigade starting on the table and the second following. There were 8 objectives on the table, 3 on each side and 2 in the middle.  The side that controlled the most objectives at the end of the opposing side's turn would win the game. Control was defined as having the only unit within 4" of the objective (so if both sides were within 4" it was contested).  Open or contested objectives were marked by yellow chips: flipped to blue for Danish control and Black for Prussian.  

    In this game, buildings were "null" terrain: block line of sight and fire, and cannot be occupied or moved through. Units fight between them, not in them. When using this terrain model, I employ 15mm buildings (one scale down: the figures are 28mm), so their footprints are small, and I can arrange them in groups to shape play.

Illustration of a Lead Regiment with Brigade Units (left) and a follow on Regiment (right)--pictured units are Prussian. The markers on the back indicate the number of hits per battalion (or half Bn/Squadron). The color indicates the regiment. The stand with the number is the waver level of the regiment (when a unit takes a hit, a marker is removed from the unit and placed on the stand--markers are magentized and both the strip on the back of the stand and the tracking stand are metal). The brigade units (and the cavalry squadrons) have square markers: they don't count towards waver. 

The lead regiments for both were organized in "advance guard" configuration, each with a light cavalry squadron (hussars), a half battalion of jagers, and 2 line infantry battalions. Each brigade also had two brigade level units: a Field Artillery Battery and cavalry regiment (a Dragoon for each of the Danish Bdes, and a Dragoon in the Prussiann 1st Bde, and an Uhlan in the Prussian 2nd Bde).  The follow on units in each brigade were 3 battalion line regiments, each with an attached half battalion of jagers. One of the brigade units would deploy with a regiment (player's choice). The brigade HQ would start with the lead regiment. 

Illustration of Army Level Units (in this case Prussian, again)

Each side also had army level units, consisting of a Heavy Cavalry Regiment (Cuirassiers for Prussians and Garde Du Corps for the Danes), an elite infantry units (Grenadiers for the Prussians and the Grenadier Guards for the Danes), and a Field Artillery Battery.  These would arrive anywhere on the baseline between the original deployment areas (inclusive) on turn three--handling and allocation to be determined by the players. The "X" strength point markers on the Army level units indicates that they are independent (and don't count towards waver). 

Prussian Army Command

Each side had an Army HQ stand (of course).  The dice on the command stands (Army and Bde) indicate the number of command points available. These could be used to re-roll morale results or to reduce waver. The Army command points could be used by the Army Command stand or transferred to Bde Commands. Once used, they were gone. If curious about these, see the Rationale and Explanation on the VnB Variant Page. In this game, the Danes had 2 reserve infantry battalions with variable morale, so I gave them an extra command point (Prussians 4 overall, 2 Army and 2 for each Bde; Danes 5, 2 for each Bde and 1 Army). 

Earl (standing, left) and AJ took up the Prussian cause. I was teamed with Mike on the Danish side (but did not get a pix of either he or myself). 

The ball opens:  I was on the right with the Danish 2nd Bde. facing off against AJ while Mike and Earl faced each other on the Danish left/Prussian right. 

Left: A detail of Mike's Danish advance guard and artillery taking up positions. Right: the bully lads of my Danish 2nd Bde bravely advancing to contest the ground vs AJ's Teutonic butchers.

On the other end of the line, elements of Earl's advance guard regiment, a squadron of the Prussian Madgeburg hussars and half Battalion of Jagers, push on under the watchful gaze of the 2nd Bde HQ stand.  

A shot of the conclusion of first stage of the battle, with each side deployed across the field and controlling 3 objectives--the next stage would be the "meat grinder" phase, where the lines would advance to contest the middle objectives. Given that I was involved with playing the game, I did not get any shots of the mix up that ensued...

...however, I can report that it was a victory for Prussian efficiency over Danish elan, but a good time was had by all.  And given that I got thumped, I can only surmise that the "new" guys in the room had certainly learned the rules: mission accomplished. 

Excelsior!