Recent Goings On

 Haven't posted in a bit. Just doing a bit of a recap of the last couple weeks. Mark, Ziggy and I got together for games of Swordpoint (Italian Wars-flavored armies) and Rank and File Napoleonics on Memorial Day weekend. Both games were a lot of fun - certainly different fare for us given our sci-fi and moderns tendencies.

Armies line up preparing for battle

A couple of turns into the proceedings

An amusing situation developed on my right flank. I had sent light cav around. Mark set up some gunners to block them but expected them to be bowled right over. He had a large group of halberdiers right behind the gunners, set to crush my cav after the gunners fall. Turns out the gunners were more than capable of of handling the light cavalry and my poor dice rolls all by themselves. The Halberdiers ended up being in a terrible position for the rest of the battle and this really hampered Mark's chances.

Swordsmen and spearmen clash in the center. The two units were very well matched and for a smaller engagement on the table, was quite enjoyable to watch play out.

My second unit of cavalry charged into some greatswords while my pikemen and Mark's cavlary duked it out in the center. The pikemen went haywire and absolutely thrashed the cavalry!

In the end, I won with my "Ventian" army, but the "Spanish" performed well and I'm excited to see these two groups get back at it again. I was happy with the Swordpoint rules. Not a bad addition to the collection at all.

Ziggy arrived part-way through the first game. We left the terrain exactly where it was for game 2 since it was also a 20mm affair, this time Naps, Prussians and French. Ziggy commanded the Prussians while Mark and I split the French. Mark was going to have to leave a bit early so it just made sense.

The armies arrayed for battle.

I was hoping to lay waste to the Jagers  on the left flank, but the skirmishers turned heel and fled behind the house!

And there they go. The French cavalry has just smashed into the Prussian line!

And then an almighty scrum develops!

My horses had to back off, leaving the French with just one infantry unit at the line! Not looking good for us.

But the Chasseurs rally and spur their mounts forward one more time! The infantry has held up amazingly well, frustrating their Prussian opponents tremendously. In the foreground you can see that the godforsaken Jagers are about to sack a second cannon. - they'd bagged another earlier.

The battle at the line continues

The, painfully for Ziggy, morale tests start to fail. Units begin falling back and French momentum increases. It's a snow-ball effect and in the blink of an eye, it's over. 

A tremendous game with a huge swing half-way through. Ziggy was running us ragged in the early turns. Mid-way through, Mark left and all of a sudden the luck changed. My dice woke up and Zig's cooled off. R&F always delivers a fun game with simple mechanics. We did make one house-rule change from the last game Mark and I played though. We reduced the morale effect that casualties have upon units. Instead of a -1 modifier for each stand lost, we changed in to -1 for every TWO stands lost. Units stick around longer and there is more fighting and less running away. It was a solid improvement. The skirmishers were a fun addition and the leader models got their first outing. A wonderful day's gaming for sure. Thanks both of you, Zig and Mark!

So, what else has been gong on? Some painting, so starters. I picked up some interesting models to start a Stargrave crew and painted them up last weekend.

The Bat-Guy and reporter are Warlord minis from the Judge Dredd line. The other two are Reaper Bones. Much of the appeal of games like Stargrave/Frostgrave is finding and painting up an interesting selection of figures. I've got a handful more incoming from Gamekastle and will leverage some of the Infinity collection for others.

I also scratch-built a 15mm house just because I felt like it. I have some similar buildings in the collection. 

With a few 15mm minis for scale. Simple, I know, but it scratched the itch.

David and I had a mini games-day for some of his Boy Scout troop yesterday. We played Rink Racers, King of Tokyo and X-Wing. Eight hours of goofing off and rolling rice - not a bad way to spend a Saturday!

We kept X-Wing very simple and focused on the basic basics - moving and shooting. It was a great time.