AND NOW FOR SOMETHING (A BIT) DIFFERENT: BRETWALDA

 

Bretwalda, from Phalanx Games.

The game is set in Dark Ages Britain, 796 A.D. with up to four players vying to be named Bretwalda, the supreme ruler of the Anglo Saxon kingdoms.

Being about a board game, this will be a bit an "out of the box" post for this blog. However, it is probably no less "hobby adjacent" than my posts blathering on about swords or books, so I'm hoping still within the scope of interest--and it is, after all, a blog with the term "Meanderings" in it. But enough apologia. On to the stuff.  What this won't be is a review or an exploration of game play: I only recently acquired this game, and have yet to get it on the table.  By way of summary, this is a "Dudes on a Map" game (a term of lingo I've now heard among board gamer afficianados), and it is the aesthetic of this game that will be the subject of this post (superficial creature that I am). For those interested in more substantial information, I would direct you to the following link on Board Game Geek .  So...good reviews and subject matter aside, what attracted me to this game was its aesthetic (as usual, you may clix pix for BIG PIX in this post)....

...the presentation, from end to end, is nothing short of amazing--having period styled playing pieces that would not be out of place on the Lewis Chess set and equally impressive period graphics for everything else. Quite immersive, to say the least. 

Speaking of the playing pieces, splendid period shapes aside, I found the contemporary plastic appearance jarring.  And this brings me to the point of this post. I decided to tart them up a bit. The concept was not to paint them to look like medieval miniature wargame figures, but to make them look like playing pieces carved from bone, ivory, or some other organic material--with some wear and age on them. In other words, to make them look more consistent with the rest of the components. Here is how they came out and how I went about it...

                                             The Four Player-Kingdoms:

                                        Northumbria                                 East Anglia

                                              Mercia                                          Wessex

                                       The Dreaded Danes (aka, Vikings)

                                                   The Neutrals

I was intending to not go beyond washes with a highlight of paint and a bit of drybrushing to render a monotone but textured look. As it was, I was particularly pleased with the how the Neutrals (above), came out with just a wash--looking very much like what I was after: ivory or bone (remember that these began life as stark white plastic).  However...

...no matter how I tweaked them, it was difficult to distinguish between the Neutrals and the yellow Northumbrians (seen side-by-side above).  Originally, the Neutrals did not have the black details.  To get some differentiation, I painted the bases of the Northumbrians yellow, which helped, but not really enough. Then I painted the bosses: black for the Neutrals and a stronger Yellow for the Northumbrians, but that still did not do it.  Distinguishing them side-by-side on a painting table was one thing, but quite another when on a crowded playing board when players are focused on other things. I knew that the differences needed to be more distinct. So I added the black shield edges to the Neutrals.  If they were to be sitting on their own on display, I would certainly have left them as is, but form and function took precedence. As far as the painting process...

...I'm not one for acrylics, but I used them given that these were plastic figures that would not be primed.  I first washed them in soapy water, and after letting them sit and dry, I used Warpaints washes on them: Strong Tone for Mercia (blue), Soft Tone for Northumbria (yellow), Wessex (red), and East Anglia (green), and Sepia Tone for the Neutrals. I then highlighted them with a lighter shade of paint base color, brightening them up. I didn't use any wash on the Danes: just a drybrush of gray. 

I then drybrushed them with gray to bring up details and to give them a bit of age and wear. 

I didn't add any paint to the neutrals other than drybrushing them with white, which on top of the Sepia added to the look of bone or ivory.  

I then finished all the figures with a coat of satin acrylic varnish, not only to seal them but to  gave them a touch of shine. I had experimented with gloss, but that was too much. Satin turned out to be the better option, bringing out details and reinforcing the impression of aged, carved playing pieces (that's my story and I'm sticking with it).  

 

My playing pieces on the game board. 

You can see in this image how something extra was needed to separate the Neutrals (top and bottom) from the Northumbrians (center).  If in practice it turns out that they are still not distinct enough,  I'll probably paint the bases of the Neutrals black. For now, I'll hold off and see how this combination works out. 

I hope to gather a few likely lads and get this on the table in the near future!

Exceslior!

PAST TO PRESENT: IN WHICH WALLY SIMON AND BOB WILTROUT REVIEW "BATTLESHIP"

A breakthrough in naval gaming!

 

Greetings, fellow shut-ins!  In this post, we delve into the archives to share something from the July 1981 newsletter of the Potomac Wargamers (Potomac Wargamers' Review, oftentimes known as PW Review). In it, Wally Simon and Bob Wiltrout chime in with perspectives gained from playing Battleship.  Anyone who has ever perused the pages of that long running newsletter will be acquainted with the entertaining, ironic, style that often permeates--Yessir, if you like true naval wargaming....you've gotta like BATTLESHIP! 

 

Although the Potomac Wargamers were no longer active during my time living in Silver Spring, Maryland in the early 2000s, I had the pleasure of meeting and gaming with Wally (albeit too briefly) and Bob. In this piece, you get a feel for what it was like being at the table when Bob or Wally was in the room--let's just say that they kept you on your toes, particularly if, like me, you hosted games using your own rules (ouch!). In this piece, aside from the usual jibes taken at each other, along the way they take also take swipes at naval gamers, claims of "realism" in gaming, and a few other trends that were only emerging at that time. Regardless of your position on these topics, the piece is a diverting read and an informative window on another time in the hobby. As usual, you may clix pix for BIG PIX to expand the images for easier reading. If the below images aren't readable, you can instead access a pdf version. Enjoy...

Excelsior!

PANDEMIC PURCHASES

Image of Trafalger Editions Waterloo 1815 (taken from their website)

 

Greetings fellow shut ins!  The post-holiday doldrums in hobby activity combined with a bit of bother with a pinched nerve in the neck that has caused me to be unable to maintain the posture for keyboarding has caused an absence of activity on this blog lately. Feeling better now, thankfully, and so took to the keyboard to get back into things. In this post, I thought I'd share some acquisitions that I have made during the course of the pandemic--sort of retail therapy (I'm guessing that I'm not the only one who found myself buying toys to compensate for the lockdown).  I found myself drawn to these novel games that I do hope to actually play, despite the fact that I haven't managed to actually play a non miniatures wargame in years. I won't go into reviewing these games in detail, but will just do a brief show and tell. You can follow the links to get more complete information on them.  As usual, in this post, you can clix pix for BIG PIX.

TRAFALGER EDITIONS

Trafalgar Editions Austerlitz 1805 and Waterloo 1815

Map and Components for Austerlitz 1805

Map for Waterloo 1815

Austerlitz 1805 game in progress

 

I picked up both the Austerlitz and Waterloo games from Trafalgar Editions (above). These are hybrid systems.  They come with beautiful mounted maps--and units are played on the maps, miniatures-like, with no hexes, squares, or areas.  I have read through the rules and watched several YouTube vids on these, and I have to say I am of mixed mind. Unfortunately, the rules, as far as I can tell, lack clarity when it comes to managing terrain, which, given the entire conceit of the system should have been a main point of emphasis. For instance, there are large and small features, and there are many places where several different terrain features are crowded together. Given the size of the counters, there are many places where a unit could straddle several pieces and/or kinds of terrain.  Yet the rules have little to say about how to adjudicate the interplay of terrain and units--how you actually occupy terrain, what happens when a counter is bigger than the terrain feature, which is quite common, particularly with farms and small towns. Does the unit footprint "shrink" or expand to fill area terrain, or is it considered to extend out of it? (And if so, what then?) When might you need to move around a piece of terrain, or set up next to it, as opposed to going through it or in it? What happens in towns or strips of towns that are large enough for units of both sides to be in at the same time? (Is that even allowed?). What about a unit that straddles several different kinds of terrain at once?  In my email to the developers on these sorts of terrain questions, they basically said, albeit nicely, to "use common sense."  In the video reviews I've seen, except for elevation and starkly obvious cases of isolated terrain features, the terrain seemed to be relegated to window dressing, basically, with the emphasis on handling units as if they were on a billiard table, which negates the idea of these games being played out on actual maps, to my mind.  So, just for me, I would say that these games are about an 80% effort. The interplay of the terrain and units need not have been made complicated, but my thinking is that it should certainly have been articulated as a central component of the game system and not left to the players to muddle through "using common sense." In that regard, I would recommend Austerlitz over Waterloo given that the terrain is much less complex and would have fewer cases to deal with.  I supposed I could still give a game a try, but even if that doesn't work out, I've got some excellent components, the mounted maps in particular, to repurpose.

 

PRATZEN EDITIONS

Flight of the Eagle Volume I and Volume III

Components for Volume I 

 

Followers of this blog may recall several posts indicating my interest in Von Reisswitz style Kriegspiel.  These games by Pratzen Editions are a complete "Kriegspiel in a box"--whereas the Kriegspiel rules (and versions of them) generally gives you the "What" these do that and also give you the "how" of running the games: to include period maps, complete OOBs, unit and commander markers, rosters, scenarios, and a complete rules system to resolve movement, reconnaissance, and several versions of combat resolution (both a tactical option and something more abstract for quicker games). They include a special section specifically to guide umpires on running the campaigns. Volume I covers the 1806 campaign in Prussian, the (overlooked in my mind) campaigns of 1806/7 that included Eylau and Friedland, and the beginning of the 1809 campaign in Bavaria. Volume III has the 1814 campaign, campaigns in the Peninsula, and the full 1809 campaign. It also includes a bundle of rules supplements for the game systems that are worth the price of admission on their own.  Although you could mix these games with miniatures, they are stand alone systems that don't need them. As such, they are particularly well suited for remote play via email under lockdown, or for players who don't have the room to lay out miniatures games. 

 

U&P GAMES

W1815 from Finnish Based U&P Games

Map and components of W1815

 

W1815 is one of those rare things: a genuine breakthrough. It plays in less than 30 minutes. You don't move units---you manage the battle, committing resources, choosing options, and countering opposing options. Although I have yet to actually play the game, my reading of the rules and tinkering with it tells me that it will deliver on its promise. You can find lots of reviews of this game if you google it, and I would particularly recommend seeking out YouTube reviews.   Someone has even created a W1815 module in Tabletop Simulator, so there is the possibility of playing this game remotely on that platform, a nice bonus in these days of lockdown.

 

 Well, that wraps up my recounting of my retail therapy during the pandemic (thus far!). 

 

Excelsior!

TOYS FOR XMAS (A COINCIDENCE)

 Gift from the Wife: Reindeers and Fast Attack Submarines!

Just a quick post here on Boxing Day, dear readers, to record an accidental (but welcome) visitation from the Wargaming Santa this Xmas.  Before proceeding to that bit, however, I should like to point out the above item, the likes of which I could not have imagined until I opened it on Xmas morning.   Both of us (the wife and I) are retired US Army, and we live near the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard  (a place where they work on nuclear submarines, better known among locals as the Kittery Naval Yard, since it's actually in Kittery, Maine).  Herself uses the services on the installation, to include the Navy Exchange and Commissary, where she ran across the above, which she scooped up and gifted to me (wonder why?).  I find it wacky enough to be service irrelevant (nautical reindeer? a non-sequitur to say the least), and thus proudly wore it on Xmas (and intend to do so in the future).  Now, to move along to the Accidental Toys for Xmas story.  

It seems that once upon a time, our hero (your humble correspondent) placed several orders for figures and whatnot in October/early November, expecting delivery of said items well before the end of December. Well, as of Dec 23rd, they had not yet materialized.  By then, I had resolved that I would not be seeing these items until after the holidays.  Imagine my glee, then, when I found both packages of wargaming goodness waiting there in the mailbox on Dec 24th---an Xmas Miracle!

KRIEGSPIEL BLOCKS AND APPARATUS

Xmas toy goodness #1: Three Deluxe Starter Sets of Kriegspiel blocks along with three Kriegspiel Ruler sets.  In the above image, I've laid out the contents of a starter block set.  It contains two sets  (one red, one blue) of  six battalions, five batteries, four squadrons, and various break down blocks.  Despite having seen kriegspiel blocks in pictures, I was surprised to see how small the blocks were (I include a pencil in the above image for scale).  I happen to like this particular producer, Photon Cutter Studios, because their blocks come ready to go, as in no stickers to mess with!

I've long had multiple versions of the Kriegspiel rules on hand, along with several sets of maps, which I've been reading and thinking about for the last few years (one of those "side" interests we all seem to have cooking but not yet ready to serve).  With these block sets I have removed the hurdle between reading and doing.  I hope to dabble a bit more deeply into this kind of gaming in the upcoming year.

NORTHSTAR FIGURES

Xmas toy goodness #2: a long anticipated box of goodies from Northstar miniatures for my Chocolate Box Wars/Mid Century collection.  Arriving was another batch of Austrian 1866 gunners,which I will eventually convert (surprise) to expand my Hungarian artillery contingent (well, one does, doesn't one?).  Additionally, I picked up some of the newly released Northstar 1866 Prussian Hussars (Totenkopf, aka Leib Hussars).   Previously, I had relied on Foundry for my Prussian 1866 hussars.  As a matter of fact, I was just about to place another order from Foundry to represent the Leib Hussars when I stumbled upon these newly released Northstar figures.... 

 ...although I'm not a big fan of "glue arm on" figures, I am favorably impressed with these sculpts.  In size and detail, they are consistent with with the 1866 Prussian Uhlans and Austrian Hussars , among others,  in the superb Northstar line.  These also have the death's head sculpted onto the busby, a detail not on the Foundry hussars.  I had expected to get started on these hussars right after my Hungarian commanders.  The delay, however, wound up being a happy accident. In effect, it saved me from myself and brought about a small hiatus in hobby activity for the holidays, which worked out well. 

Excelsior!

ED'S WARGAME MUSEUM

Finding ourselves local and not among those who had made the trip to the Historicon Convention last week, a friend and I decided on short notice to get together and "do something."  Not having the time to pull out and configure a miniatures game, this presented a golden opportunity to revisit some good ole hex-and-counter play.  This provided me the opportunity to pull out some likely suspects from my collection and revisit them.   Life interrupted, unfortunately, and our gaming session did not come to pass. What I did get to do, though, was organize the bits more, download some good supplemental material from board game geek, and revisit these games in general.   You may note that they are all from another time--from the pre-activation roll/activation card mechanic era.  I do have some contemporary wargames, all of them with activation systems of one stripe or another, none of which I want to play (I wish it were otherwise: I tried!).  Such are my preferences.  But I digress.

Of course, this collection may look like a display from a wargame museum (if such a thing existed),  where perhaps I should also be on display, my OSG Napoleon At Leipzig tucked under arm. The plaque might read, "Hex-and-counter grognard--among creatures known to have actually played Drang Nach Osten/Untenschieden. Now believed extinct."   

For the curious or the nostalgic, here's a rundown of the games in the above:  Torgau, Crimea, 1815: The Waterloo Campaign, Hundred Days Battles, Friedland, 1807, The Battle of Saratoga, The Battle of Lobositz, The Battle of Prague, The Battle of Dresden, 1813, Eagles, Waterloo, Napoleon's Last Battles. Back in the day, our group used to engage in many enjoyable sessions of these sorts of games--in addition to miniatures (we were a more inclusive lot back then).  One of my hobby aims is to get in touch with my hex-and-counter self again: there's plenty of play left in these old hounds!

Excelsior!

ROBBIECON 2017

Once again, Robert (aka, "Robbie"), organized a gaming weekend at a small conference facility associated with his workplace in Vermont. As with the previous "Robbie Con" held in September, this gathering included miniatures gamers from our club as well as good friends from Robbie's board gaming circle. It ran from Friday night through Sunday morning.  This gaming "retreat" is just the sort of thing that I as a young gamer always imagined that I and my pals would be able to do as adult gamers--too bad we had to bypass "adult" and become "old" gamers to realize it (well, youth is wasted on the young, anyway). 

One interesting feature of this particular gathering was that we had three Roberts in attendance: Robert (aka "Robbie" our host); Robert (aka "Bob O" in this report), whom you may recall as Von Bob from the Danish Delight, Battle of Dybbol report; and Robert ("the Dutchman"), a stalwart from Robbie's gaming circle. Thus, it was very much a Robert ("Robbie") Con (sorry, couldn't help myself). 

I'm squeezing in this report in between returning from Robbie Con and preparing to depart on a business trip for the rest of the week. Thus, I haven't had the time to produce the usual graphic embellishments.  It will be a more stripped-down "normal" report.  As usual, in the below, you may clix pix for BIG PIX.

I arrived on Friday evening, and was involved in three miniatures games over the course of Friday and Saturday (a 28mm Ancients, a 15mm Napoleonics, and an X-Wing).  I also played in one collaborative war/card game (Grizzled), which was ably moderated by Robert the Dutchman. 

Unfortunately, I didn't get any shots of the Grizzled game, but we eventually completed a sequence without winding up among the Honored Dead of the Great War. Thanks to Robert the Dutchman for guiding us through No Man's Land!

Bob O setting the scene for his Gauls vs Romans game.

The Friday night game was Ancients using group member Ralph's Hannibal at the Gates rules system. The game was ably prepared and hosted by Bob O using his extensive and superb 28mm Romans and Gauls. In the above, you can see rules author Ralph (center of the picture) keeping a watchful eye on Bob as he explains his rules.  

Bob's superb Gauls and Romans.

This game would be a head-on slugfest...

 ...pitting the discipline and training of a smaller Roman force against a wall of charging Gauls...

...I was among the Romans. In the end, it "came down to the Triarri" (the battle line shown immediately above left and right), who wheeled into the hole that had been torn in the Roman line just in time to turn back the threat. The Roman army morale was getting dire, but the the Gauls cracked first. A near run thing and a great game (a quiet march through the Teutoburger Wald is scheduled to help the traumatized legionnaires recuperate).  Next up was 15mm Napoleonics...

 

Robert (Robbie) sets the scene for his Battle of Lutzen, 1813, game...

...the game was played using Robert's Napoleonic rules (a work in progress that allows you to play large battles, very workable and well received thus far).  The scenario replicated surprise by having the allies start within striking distance of the forward French line. My Prussian command in the center (above right) at start is set up and poised to storm the town at the pivot in the French line, which would be stoutly held by AJ who was commanding the French center...

...above left, Charlie looking down the intended axis of advance of his French Guard. The French plan was for the Guard to come in and hit the depleted Prussians in the center. The gauntlet of Bob O's Russians on the allied right, however, would prove to be too much for the French Guard to run and arrive in shape to take on the Prussians (thankfully!).  Top right, Mike C's Russians and Prussians were engaged in heavy fighting for the town on the French right/center.  Eventually, the town would fall to the Allies. Farther out on the Allied left, the Russians were getting mauled, paying the price for keeping the French right from influencing the action in the center...

...where (above), my Prussians, eventually managed to take both town squares and fend off a last gasp French counterattack. Much reduced by the hard fighting, the Prussians would start shifting to face the onslaught of the French Guard from the right, who would (thankfully) not arrive thanks to Bob O's Russians.  Another hard pounding and near run thing, this game was called at that point with advantage to the allies.  Next we were transported to a Galaxy Far Away...

 ...in an X-Wing affair hosted by Ralph. Yes, that same fellow who authored the earlier- mentioned ancients rules: such range!

Given the table configuration and the number of players, Ralph came up with an innovative plan to use two circular tables (dubbed the "infinity table" given the figure 8 outline). Where the two table discs touched they were "joined" by a wormhole, signified by the orange and yellow spinner from my unplayed Nuclear War retro card game (visible in the picture below).  If a ship exited one table at the wormhole, we placed the spinner in the center of the other table and gave it a spin. The ship arrived at the indicated point on the perimeter of the new table.  This worked out well (and proved irresistible: people just had to run ships through the wormhole to see where they would come out).  

Ralph Putting Down his X-Wing Game on the "Infinity Table"

On the far table, Mike and Bob O beat up on the lone Rebel Charlie, who was still gamely putting up a fight with a ship or two at the end (AJ managed to shoot a ship from our table over to him).

On our table, Rebels AJ (of AJ's Wargaming Blog) and myself chased Imperial Ralph around, chipping away at his force.  Ralph skillfully evaded and counterpunched against the odds until Mike's ships started coming through the wormhole to reinforce him.  Ultimately, the Force was with the Empire this day, and the Rebels would have to break off to fight another day. Normally, I'm not a fan of aerial or naval games where you plot movement for individual craft,  but the mechanics in this system managed to elegantly sidestep my usual frustrations.  Since this was the last game in the series, I was running out of steam and was also distracted by playing, so I didn't get any pictures of the action....

...however, fellow blogger AJ (above), of AJ's Wargaming Blog , was in residence, and will very likely have a few shots of interest from this and the other games, one of which ran on Friday afternoon before I arrived: something to watch for.

Robert, Our Gracious Host and Organizer: Many Thanks!