Memorial Day Weekend Activities

 It's been an awesome long Memorial Day weekend and I took an extra day off because of the late night last night. More on that in a moment.

    On Sunday I met Mike and Mark for an afternoon of gaming. I took my Renaissance Spanish and Venetians for a big Lion Rampant game (45 points per side). Each side was split into two commands and each command's initiative order was determined every turn. We played the Sausages with Mustard scenario, with the Venetians defending. Mike and Mark shared leadership duties on the Spanish side while I wrangled the Italians.

An early opening shot. You can see the four buildings in the center which the Spanish were trying to burn down. I deployed a unit of pikemen in the middle as my single forward "speedbump" unit.

The first engagement took place in the hill with the tower. Our heavy cavalry squared off with Mark successfully counter-charging me.

I got the better of the engagement and the Spanish horsemen fell back...

A wide view of the center. I was having a far better time activating units than M&M.

On the right, my crossbowmen had peppered the Spanish light cav who were facing a block of pikemen.

The center had turned into a mess. I had pikemen and greatswords in disarray. The greatswords learned firsthand how nasty arquebusiers are!

In one of my favorite moments of the afternoon was when Mike's initiative rolls had him active twice, back-to-back... fourth in one turn and first in the next. He used the opportunity to charge his heavy cav into my light cavalry. I passed the evade test and fell back into the woods. The Spanish cavalry still completed their charge but in the trees, everyone was hitting on 5+ and only had 2 armor! The equalizer paid off as the Spanish cavalry took it on the chin. 

We played a bit more but at the end of the day, the Spanish torches couldn't get the job done and no buildings burned! In all fairness, my dice were hot and both Mike and Mark rolled hot garbage most of the day. You probably don't need me to tell you how frustrating the Rampant games can be when your activations are failing early and often.

Mark and I then played an introductory game of Quar - Clash of Rhyfles. Interesting item of note... Mark has been bumping his gums for YEARS about his collection of Quar and trying to sell us on the game. He's never once offered to put it on the table and show it off. Mike picks up the new models from Wargames Atlantic and has it on the table in a fortnight. Classic.

We each had 10 troops with a mix of weapons, mostly rifles but also some SAWs and SMGs. The clear glass bauble in the picture above is our objective location we fought over.

My blues turned things into a tragedy for the greens. I was able to get a few very useful fire lanes set up, picking off enemy troops left and right.

I did lose a couple in the process, but in the end was able to take the objective, occupy the enemy backfield and overall, take the win!

Last evening, my wife and I did something quite unusual for us... we went to a WWE RAW pro wrestling event at the new area in Savannah. I got a couple of freebie tickets from work and, well... it was a heck of a lot of fun. 

and of course a cage match!

Even if you aren't a fan, it's truly quite a production spectacle and those athletes are amazing to watch. Awesome stuff.

Memorial Day Gaming

 I had a good turnout for the Memorial Day Weekend Game Bash on Sunday. I put on two games, Dragon Rampant and Check Your 6: Jet Age. 

We started with Dragon Rampant in 15 mil. An alliance of humans and dwarves against undead and dark elves.

The suspects.

Landon, Ziggy and I commanded the forces of "good" while David, Wayne and Mark shared the "evil" army. There were three objective markers along the centerline of the table and we duked it out for control of those over the course of ten turns.

Our battlefield before the fighting got started.

Wayne and Zig slug it out for control of the giant tree at the far end of the table.

Landon and I push towards the ruins as a giant lizard and skeletal cavalry appear to challenge us.

Dwarf warrior and a group of my cavalry capture the central bridge objective.

The "Romans" gave as good as they got against skeletal warriors and the skelephant.

David's poor chariots had a tough time getting going. We corrected their watery situation after this photo was taken. Fortunately they were still floundering and hadn't actually passed an activation roll.

Similarly, David's skelegriffons were lacking in the activation department. They never once succeeded at an activation roll the entire game!

The brawl at the ruins. The giant lizard and dark elf executioners had captured the site, supported by crossbowmen, a sorceress and undead beastmen and light cavalry. My peasant rabble and Landon's dwarves didn't much care for their odds!

We ended the game after seven full turns. We good guys were way ahead on points to the point where Team Evil couldn't catch up. The uncooperative chariots and griffons in the center made such a difference, not to mention very poor activation results on turn 1 for Team Evil. We jumped on the objectives early and the bad guys had to push us away which much easier said than done. They did capture the ruins from me and Landon but Zig's "Romans" held on tight to the left flank. An entertaining game and a good time for sure.

After tidying up the table we put CY6JA on the table. The scenario was a Vietnam bombing mission featuring Navy Corsairs and Phantoms against the typical assortment of MiGs. The teams remained the same as the previous game, with Mike being added to the USN side; he showed up a bit late.

Wayne flew a pair of MiG-17s, David over there, a pair of 19's. Ziggy was the Navy's commander.

One of David's MiG-19s knocks out Ziggy's A-7. The Navy players each flew an A-7 and an F-4. The yellow tokens represented bombing targets.

Wayne's ace in the red MiG-17 scores a hit on Landon's A-7. Just engine damage. We can deal with that.

I finally rolled up a hit with a missile, a Sidewinder into Wayne's red '17. Boom, dead! YESSSS. Then I remembered the "Malfunction roll." D10 comes up a "2." Damn. Put Wayne's plane back. Stupid Raytheon.

I didn't take very many photos. At the end of the day, it was a terrible outing for the Navy pilots. Three A-7s lost and all pilots were captured by the VC. Two bomb drops over the targets but no damage done. Seven missiles fired, ZERO hits. We  probably should have slow-rolled and fired walls of Sparrows early hoping to score an "odds" kill. You figure sixteen Sparrows over the first four turns probably could have gotten one success. Probably should have sent the Phantoms in first to get the MiGs out of formation but hey, you live, you learn. The North Vietnamese players enjoyed things and got some revenge for the earlier loss in Dragon Rampant.

It was a fine afternoon of dice and toy soldiers and it was great having a houseful of buddies over. As we all know, it's not about the game, it's about the experience. Looking forward to a little D-Day Bolt Action next weekend at Mike's place. Be well and good gaming!

Memorial Day 2019 Games

Hi all. As this long Memorial Day weekend winds down let's a take a moment to think and thank those who've paid the ultimate price for your continued freedom.

Saturday afternoon I hosted another fantastic iteration of the Memorial Day Game Bash. Over ten hours we played two very entertaining games - Dragon Rampant and Victory at Sea: Age of Dreadnoughts. We had six players - three a side for both and everyone seemed to have a great time - either that or they're excellent liars!

Dragon Rampant was first and we had a team of Mike, David and Mark leading an Undead / Dark Elf force into a sleepy village defended by the best spearmen and cavalry we could put together. The defenders we me, Ziggy and Charles.

Our players.

The battlefield at the outset. The wintry theme was a nice distraction from the 100 degree heat outside!

Ziggy's cavalry takes the fight to the enemy, smashing into the undead goblins riding the skeletal wolves. The bone griffons join in! In the end, Zig's cavalry was wiped out but so was the undead cavalry and the griffons were reduced to a single model ( 2 strength points ).

The Dark Elf sorceress, her bodyguard of Executioners, undead beastmen,  a host of spectres and the undead Lord form the center of the Army of Darkness' line. Charles' legionnaires and general are lined up opposite looking a bit outnumbered.

My eagles spent three or four turns failing activations and ending my turn prematurely. Finally though, they woke up and smashed into a unit of skeletal warrior on the left flank.

Mark's chariots which had also had considerable activation issues finally got it together and began working around the right flank only to be greeted by Charles' cavalry. You can see my wizard, John Wick on the hilltop. He'd prove to be quite dangerous.

The center has taken a real beating for both sides. Charles' spearmen work on the Skeletal Lord while his cavalry seeks safety after a twin thumping from the chariots and skelephant! John Wick has given the undead beastmen a severe thrashing. Zig and I still have solid defensive unit in the village defending the yellow objective marker.

Bad Ash does his bit, slapping Charles' spearmen around.

Meanwhile, John Wick completely owns the beastmen while a griffon and skelephant take aim at him. BRING IT ON!

Wrong movie, right actor, right gesture.

The center of the battlefield. Ziggy's heavy infantry hustle toward the fight, so do my eagles which are parked in from of the skeletal archers. Forgot all about them having Wild Charge - they should have plowed into those archers a long time ago...  Oh well.

The wizard gets what he asked for and then some.

Poor John.

Zig's archers finally pass an activation roll and shoot the bejeezus out of the undead infantry my eagles had worked over earlier. My eagles get pincushioned by the stupid undead archers.

Finally, the killing machine that was David's Skeletal Lord bites the dust. I moved my spearmaidens out of their defensive position to goad Mark into attacking. The chariots and skelephant had taken to COWERING NEXT TO THE SORCERESS, TRYING TO HEAL UP. My taunts worked and I was able to take out the skelephant.

Mark finally gets his chariots around and launches them into Zig's spearmen. Both units are wiped out! At the same time, Zig's archers fail a morale test and beat feet. Dammit!

The archers and Mike's sorceress pelt my spearmaidens causing my to make morale tests which I of course fail, leaving the town in the possession of the ARMY OF DARKNESS!

The realms of evil are apparently low on fabric - perhaps that's why they're rampaging? What a blast! All those minis and it ended with only five on the board. Now that's a blood/bone bath.

--------------------  Intermission while the table is reset -------------------------

We split up the winning team, trading Mike and Charles. This second game was a hypothetical WWI naval clash with the Austro-Hungarian Navy sortieing out of the Adriatic and into the open Mediterranean. The Italian Navy is dispatched to intercept. Mark, David and Charles split the AH forces while Mike, Zig and I commanded the Italians. Mike and Mark were the commodores for the opposing fleets.

A plan is sort of formed. Rules are referenced.

Toot toot!

Ziggy lands a critical hit early on one of David's battleships (orange marker in the distance) but sadly it ended up being pretty inconsequential.

So what we got goin' on uh-here is a stupid ring around the island situation with a bunch of ships that are all basically the same speed. Mike favored this but I rejected it as a fruitless dance. I encouraged him to turn into the front of their fleet so we'd be able to get to up close and personal with them. In the end, Ziggy and I turned into the Austro-Hungarians while Mike chased them. 

Things start to really heat up. Z and Chuck's battleships are getting very close.

So Zig and I have become the anvil. Mike's "hammer" is waaay off in the distance and the AH fleet is coordinated and relatively close together.

Yellow markers are splashes. Orange flames are bad. Charles had just sunk one of my Garibaldi class armored cruisers with a torpedo. "Poor subdivision" makes torpedoes extremely deadly.

Meanwhile, Ziggy's Regina Margherita unloads on a Habsburg-class, sending it to the bottom.

And now it becomes untenable. Mark's two big Tegetthof's are in amongst the bulk of the Italian fleet and begin both killing at will and absorbing damage that would have better been applied elsewhere. You can see that our two big battleships are still a long ways off. They're doing damage but not soaking any off the rest of our fleet.

The Margherita "threads the needle" between the two big k.u.k. Kreigsmarine ships causing good damage, but again, it was ultimately insignificant.

David's squadron of Radezky's have a fine round of gunnery, sinking a torpedo boat and two of my small cruisers 1-2-3.We did manage to sink another of Charles' battleships.

By this time, the Italians had had enough. We were down to two torpedo boats without torpedoes, a cruiser, a burning small battleship and two large virginal battleships. The AH still had five battleships in very good condition. The Italians broke off and headed back home.

A great win for David, Mark and Charles! Stay close together helped them a lot compared to the relative disarray of the Italians. Mike and I will disagree forever, but I think he should have dove his ships into the heart of the enemy like Z and I did. Regardless, it was a great time and there's a lot to be said for putting that many battleships on the tabletop at once!

David and Mark both got two wins on the day, Charles and Mike got one each while Ziggy and I each had two losses. Boooo! 😁

Be well and good gaming!