AAR: Dystopian Wars Returns!

 Ziggy and I pulled out the Dystopian Wars models last evening for what's become "retro gaming" for us. Some of the earliest posts on this blog from 13 years ago were of Dystopian Wars! The Fleet Action rules that were published just as Spartan Games was closing its doors are the example of the game at its finest. Those are the rules we use. Our game was a 1200-point naval engagement, Republic of France vs Kingdom of Britannia. I made a comment about using the Statue of Liberty model that had never gotten any game time and Zig gave it a thumbs up. I painted that monster nine years ago!

I put together a naval-only force of French vessels; I think it's the first time I've ever played DW without using ANY fliers at all! Zig had an assortment of surface and aerial vessels.

My tiny fleet. Madame Liberte eats up a lot of build points.

That way, mes amis!

It wasn't long before some Orion-class destroyers located a target, one of my two battlecruisers. A quick torpedo volley and she was in pieces at the bottom of the sea.

On my right, my Alma-class skimming destroyers were mauled and three of the four were taken out easily by Zig's flying machines.

A view from my left.

I didn't get pictures of the sinking of my carrier, but Ziggy killed it and my fourth Alma-class. My graveyard was looking grim.

Revenge was swift though. my other battlecruiser and Madame L were right on top of the British fleet and caused a considerable number of casualties in short order

Finally, some results! A cruiser, battlecruiser, four frigates and two destroyers accounted for!

But it wasn't to last, Zig killed the other Cherbourg then unloaded on the statue.

The old girl only has two hull point left!

Clearly, the play is to ram the British carrier, right? With a massive cacophony, both mighty vessels form the basis of a new reef. My French were done. All I had left were two cruisers. Zig still had all his aerial assets.

Well, I'm here to tell ya, the Robot-Deadnought was awesome. Loads of fun to push around and wreck stuff. Glad to finally get it on the tabletop for sure! The game itself was a blast and hopefully it will be less than a year before we pull it back out. Be well and good gaming!

Naps Back to the Table

 The 20mm Napoleonics made an appearance on the game table over the weekend, as I mentioned in the previous post. I reached out to Mark for a game and he suggested them since I'd done so much work on them recently. It was a pretty simple matter of "throw it all on the table and bash it out." Of course my French and Prussian armies aren't exactly paired perfectly so the French had one extra unit, but to compensate, the Prussians upgraded two infantry regiments to Veteran status. Seemed fair, right?

Rather than just traffic-jamming things up, we each deployed four units then everything else would join as reserves in turns 3,4 and 5 at pre-determined locations (right, left and center). 

I started with a basic three infantry regiments and a four-gun battery way off to the left on the hill. Mark mixed it up with Jagers, Veteran infantry and a 4-stand cavalry unit, as well as his guns in two two-gun batteries.

My line trundles forward. The Prussian cav hangs back, timidly.

The view from my "this is as Grand as it gets" battery.

Turn three. My first reinforcement arrives, more infantry, streaming forward in column. The Prussians are still hanging back.

But on turn 4 things heat up! Infantry on the left engage and more reinforcements arrive. For me, it's MORE INFANTRY! Queen of battle and all, I know where my bread gets buttered.

A better shot of the center. Not much for casualties yet. You can see I have my center arrayed in a "Eff-You" arrangement against the small cavalry unit.

Fighting is fierce on the left as my troops gain a slight lead on their foes, but neither side willing to budge.

A few minutes later and the battle is met along the center! The cavalry hit and there's an almighty scrum in the middle of the field. More reinforcements arrive; the French now have cavalry for Mark to worry about.

A little closer to the tabletop for "bonus eye-candy."

Tragedy as the French infantry on the left are run off! Looks like the reserve unit behind them will soon become battle-hardened vets.

It's a real shame that my big cavalry block was centered... they'd have enjoyed plowing into a weakened infantry regiment. I might have also been playing keep-away from the Prussian Uhlans. I didn't really want to piss my horses away in an even dice-rolling match.

But on the other side, the Prussian Life Guard succumb to stout French resistance. Glory!

Meanwhile, my own small cavalry unit, Dragoons, have snuck around the right flank and now threaten the Prussian guns and left side in general!

But as the battle ground on, Prussian units were overrun (red/pink stars). The Jagers did an admirable job holding up my Dragoons (upper right).

Although the battle had been decided, we smashed our remaining units into one another, giving the big cavalry units an opportunity to lace into eachother. My Dragoons also got to exact brutal punishment on the cannons on the hill. :)

A delightful three hours of pushing lead! We both had a good time and really, what's not to like? I was happy that the plan I concocted for my reserves worked out nicely. Cover the field with infantry then bring in the cavalry at the end to quickly exploit whatever they could. Their presence really created a dilemma for Mark who had to account for them. 

Ziggy's due back from Europe, defending Western civilization against the eastern hordes, this week. I'm sure I'll see him over the weekend. They deployed just before Putin invaded Ukraine so he's been kicking it in Germany for close to three months.

Thar Be Dragoons!

My final batch of Napoleonics for the near future! I've been on quite a tear for the last five weeks or so, knocking out three infantry regiments and two undersized cavalry regiments. That's unheard of brush-speed for me. That was 64 infantry and 16 horses and riders, and they're not complete crap quality!

This lot is a group of French Dragoons. I was delighted by the uniforms - they add a nice break from the "mer bleue" that is the French. 

Models are Newline Designs 20mm. My early 18th century North Americans arrived last week, so the next project on the agenda has already been selected and primed.

Recent Work

 I slowed down a little bit but not much with the painting in the last week and a half. I scrounged lead mountain and dug up another regiment's worth of French infantry. They were cycled through the paint machine quickly enough. It helped that eight of the twenty-four were already painted.

The Naps collection is really shaping up.

So the current queue looks like this.

French Dragoons. Woohoo! I just hit them with their first colors this morning.

During the week I also finished up a GHQ 6mm Panavia Tornado. I haven't painted any Cold War micro armor in a while and watching the events unfolding in Europe gave me the urge. Perhaps that's morbid, but it's the truth. 

Freehanded the markings. Yes, they're sloppy but get the point across. Jets aren't on the table for very long anyway. :) 

I did place a good sized order for 28mm early colonial North Americans this week from Sash & Saber. British and Abenaki natives. These will join these others here and here soon enough for some back woods Blood and Plunder! If you're a regular reader, you'll see that I'm actually making good on some of my New Year's resolutions to expand both my Naps collection and the 18th Century wilderness gang.

Gauche, Gauche, Gauche Droite Gauche

 The next / most recent addition to my Napoleonic French army made it out of the chute yesterday. They're 20mm Newline Designs Grenadiers.

Nothing award-winning but more than sufficient for action at the front! They'll get their standard once I've completed the other units I'm working on. The Prussian Hussars made it out of their baggies and got primed and some first colors yesterday as well. 

I've always struggled with cavalry but working on the riders and horses independently has helped a lot and I no longer hate it.

Next weekend I'm off the the inaugural Bold City Con in Jacksonville. It's more of a pop-culture/comic/cosplay affair than the stuff I'd normally attend, but they 14 year-old will enjoy it and I'll put a stripped down X-Wing, suitable for novices on the table. If nothing else, it's in-context with the show. In other X-Wing related news, apparently the new company Asmodee spun it off to (Atomic Mass) has been screwing around with the rules, making significant changes to how it's worked since it was first published in 2012. It doesn't feel like 10 years, but there you go. David was giving me the skinny last weekend. I'm not interested in purchasing new rules and information cards for something I'm already completely happy with. I don't know how much longer David's going to have me as a tournament practice opponent.

A Few More French

 I finished up another block of 20mm French infantry for my Naps this evening. I finished them in what may have been record time for me with this sort of painting. 80% of the work was done on Sunday over a few hours.

With and without flash. They'll be used as a "Guards" unit since they've got flashier hats... some visual distinctiveness.

Next up, some Prussian Jagers.

Naps - Finally A Game!

Way back on November 9, 2016 I stumbled upon some very inexpensive 20mm Napoleonic French infantry miniatures. Over the intervening three and a half years I added artillery and cavalry, as well as an opfor in the form of Prussians. I've finally got enough painted for what I consider a proper game. Mr. Mark joined me yesterday afternoon  for a first outing with the one of the all-time pillars of tabletop wargaming - rank and file Napoleonics.

The engagement was nothing specific - just two evenly matched forces to help us wrap our heads around the rules (Rank and File from Crusader). The battlefield was set up with a wide open area in the center and some bits of terrain on the edges.

I deployed my infantry and cavalry in columns to get into the center of the battlefield quickly. I've played enough "troops block" games in my life to know that you want some space between your fleeing troops and the evil "edge of the table."

Pretty horses all in a row.

A long line of Prussians.

Mark commences the slow roll forward of the Prussians. I had my cannons positioned to provide wide open lanes of fire in the early going.

My cuirassiers were on top of the Prussian infantry on my right flank in no time!

Meanwhile, my musketeers had reached the center(ish) and redeployed in line formation.

The French cavalry crash into their enemy!

Gratuitous low-angle shot

And another.

A good view of the battlefield. My horses are in deep kimchi having pushed back the infantry. They're now lined up perfectly for that cannon! Merde!

Before they disappear, the cuirassiers at least manage to run off the infantry they'd been battling. Le Huzzah!

I continue to press the issue and now our infantry is within musket range. Casualties start mounting for both sides. The Prussian lancers on my left are still threatening.

My cavalry retires.

Just as the timid/cautious Prussian commander commits his horsemen to the fight!

They take a severe mauling from cannon fire (left edge) and muskets but still hit hard enough to push my troops back.

Yeah baby! REVENGE.

We're done. Bon chance! 

One of my wrecked infantry battalions charges a lone Prussian gun. Desperate times, right?

Prussian horse ride off.

At the end of that turn, the game was called. We removed all casualties and this shot shows what was really left. The two units circled in yellow had broken morale and are essentially wiped out. The Prussians had a single half-strength infantry block on shaky morale. My French were spent.

What a blast! We both had a terrific time. We did a few things wrong, but nothing that affected the game significantly. It always happens. I'll probably tweak a few things with R&F for the next game - particularly morale - once a unit is on the slippery slope, it's too hard to recover. Perhaps commanders will rectify that but we'll find out next game - those models are in the painting queue right now. I have enough lead for one, maybe two more French infantry units. I'm excited to keep this going.