Fast Patrol Boats

A mini campaign based on the naval action of the Arab-Israeli War, with the original Yaquinto Fast Attack Boats rules converted from hex based to 'tabletop'

The tabletop in question being a partition of the floor of the church hall.

From Furness Wargamers at Sea

Colonial Mars. pt 3

Unfortunately I was ill this week, but the campaign carried on to it inevitable end.

With the Americans being in thier own little section of the map, and with their strongest assets being conventional Naval, and so slow and canal bound, there was nothing much they could do to intefer in the main theatre of action anyway.

An Email explains the conclusion as follows...


Rear Admirals,

The struggle for control of the great Coprates valley on Mars is over for the year 1889.

The gallant High Martian enclave surrendered in similar fashion as the Japanese to the advancing might of the British aerial steam navy, ensuring the British achieved overall single nation control of the valley.

The superior tactics of the British commander, backed by highly efficient crews and the awesome aerial steam gunboat squadrons carried the day.

The (apparently) free availability of massive French funding and constant aid (meddling) from Belgian sabotage (including seemingly Belgian controlled sandstorms) both served to ease the British victory.

Commiserations to the losing nations who did the best they could with the increasingly meagre resources available.

Peace descends on Mars again, for the time being...

Thanks to all for a fun mini campaign.

regards,

Paul

¶

Colonial Mars, pt 2

The campaign on Mars continues...

Tony is missing and the French commander Jim is replaced by Dave S.

From Furness Wargamers from Mars

Colonial Mars, pt 1

A campaign run by Paul, and based upon Space 1889 universe, and the Corprates Valley as shown in Conklin's Atlas of the Worlds. The British (Matt), Americans (Tel), French (Jim), Germans (Tony) and Japanese (Dave M) all decide they want a slice of Belgium's (Mark) contested Martian (Paul) domain.

Having the original RPG for the setting, along with Conklin's, I was at least prepared for the idea of aerial warships fighting on Mars.

From Furness Wargamers from Mars

Night Train to Cairo

A mini-campaign using modified Horde of the Rings rules.

Based on the Anglo-Egyptian War, the British launch a campaign to seize Cairo from the Egyptians.

Two separate British forces attempt to march across Northern Egypt, opposed by tow groups of Egyptians.

From Furness Wargamers in the Colonies

The first two simultaneous battles both went the way of the British, but not by much.
The British were then quick to build some Armoured Trains to double their movement on the Campaign map. Movement became cagey between both sides, as the Egyptians attempted to keep both route to Cairo protected, with the British having to resort to brute strength to try and force the passage.

A loss by the British actually helped them in the campaign as the Egyptians advanced too far opening up a route to the Capital for the other British force.


It all came down to a final battle on the outskirts of Cairo, with all forces converging there.

The British scrape a victory in the end, mainly due to the Machine Guns, both on the ground and on the Armoured Trains
¶

Zulus, Tens of Them

Matt brought in some 54mm Plastic British and Zulu figures that he'd managed to pick up, pre-painted, at a bargain price. About 30 Zulus and 20 British in total.

Rules, as provided by Paul, were In Darkest Africa from Wargames Illustrated. All ranges and move rates were doubled to take account of the figure size and a couple of house rules made up on the fly to cover the defensive positions, giving a 5+ to wound defenders rather than the normal 4+.

From Furness Wargamers in the Colonies

Phalanx 2012

Annual pilgrimage down to St Helen's for the Spartans annual Phalanx convention.

Arrived at about 12am, Bumped into a few of the Furness Wargamers who had made their own way down and got my £3 entry fee reimbursed for being a club member.

Seemd to be more demo games going on this year, or possibly just better laid out. The local LARP group had a table to themselves as well. As per usual with LARPers they were heavily into latex.

Did not buy much, some magazines, some cheap Army Painter primer and some packs of 15mm Protolene 'jackal' warriors from the Critical Mass stall. These, at a push, can act as proxy Vargr to face the proxy 'Imperials' I got at Triples. Should have more than enough figures to do some of the basic Tomorrow's War scenarios.

Had some deep fried chips from the cafe for dinner, which was 'as good as ever'; You would expect a sports centre to have something a little better. (But not as extreme as at Triples where they had vending machines for Whey Powder.)

Left at around 3pm, just as the monsoon season was starting.
¶

Battle at Wahlsbeck

A battle that should never been fought occurs as Davout's retreating French runs into a Prussian Corps that had just trashed the Frenchies forward supply depot. Rather than retreat the Prussians decide to stand against a superior French Army.

Report from Dave M

Hordes of Blue and Grey

A 3 a side mini campaign, organised by Paul. The Confederation of Tel, Jim and Ethan vs the Union of Martin, Dave M and Tony. Using a variant of the HoTT rules with only 3 unit types and allowing for step reductions in combat, plus an unhistorical balancing of initial forces.

The Union try an early advance into Virginia, loading up two armies versus my one in a re-fight of Bull Run. The other Confederate forces counter by moving into Kentucky with armies from Tennessee and Georgia. With both fights going the way of the Confederates, the Union was put on the back foot straight away.

The Army of North Virginia then marches unopposed into Maryland and capturing Washington, as the remaining Union forces try and repulse the western advance into Indiana.

So the final battle is in Ohio as all the remaining forces converge, with the advantage of units in favour of the Confederates (one of the Union armies only had one element in it!). When the leader of the forces on the Union left met with an untimely demise it forced his army, previously holding its own against the stronger enemy, to retreat leaving the remaining defenders in the centre exposed (they had refused to defend their right flank). Put on an untenable situation the Union had no option but to concede.

¶

Battle for Magdeburg

The 1813 Campaign continues after an April hiatus, with a long anticipated battle near the key supply city of Magdeburg.

Report from Dave M again.

From Furness Wargamers in Shakos

St George's Talavera

The annual big near St. Georges Day game. This year was the Battle of Talavera in 28mm.
All figures provided by Matt.

From Talavera 2012

The Vikings!

A mass brawl between eight differing clans of Vikings as they pine for the fjords and the hidden gold located there.

Rules for combat are the same as used for the Irish Campaign, basically a modified version of the SPI War of the Rings rules, but with boats added.

At the start everybody rolled to see who their natural friends and enemies were. The Bjork clan, were obviously shrieky outsiders from across the sea and ended up with three enemies.

From Furness Wargamers with Spears

Battle of Marienborn

Another battle in the 1813 Campaign as the French try and redeploy their forces out of the rough terrain of Marienborn after the surprise capitulation of Magdeburg.

Report from Dave M as usual.

From Furness Wargamers in Shakos

Battle of Groningen

Two Battles to report from the 1813 Campaign. The first played out at the club, as the French forces try to strike hard at Blucher before reinforcements can envelope them. The second, smaller action, was played out elsewhere (and possibly via an automatic combat resolution system.)

Battle reports from Dave M, as usual.

From Furness Wargamers in Shakos

Gundam War

A mini-campaign based around the Gundam series. Two teams of three players.

A war is raging in Russia over the control of several key industrial centres. The core rules being based upon the Ogre rule-set.

From Furness Wargamers in the Future

Action at Calbe

Another campaign battle, this time on Day 9.

What should of been a big battle at Calbe turned into a bit of a squib and rapid retreat. Martin had positioned his troops in defense of the battle magnet of Calbe, but then promptly did not show up for the battle due to ill-health. This left Mark, Jim and me in charge of the forces, with me, as Wittgenstein, nominally in over all command.

This is the first battle to actually feature Wittgenstein's III Corps in full after they finally arrive in the area after a long, convoluted, march from Dresden.

Another battle report from Dave M follows...

From Furness Wargamers in Shakos

Zombiefied

Ended up digging out my copy of Zombies!!! at the club after Martin's group got left in the lurch by his no show.

We used the Six Feet Under expansion but not the Subway transit rules as didn't want to complicate it for the first time players. The increased deck size was probably a mistake. After a long struggle the game was declared a draw\Zombie victory as the late appearing helipad was miles away (20+ spaces from nearest player) and no one was close to the 25 kills for a win, despite having plenty of zombie targets. So many zombies, in fact, that we had to start using zombie dogs as kill markers.

¶

Action at Schlauterhausen

The second battle of the 1813 Campaign to be fought at the club, occurring near Calbe, which had already seen action previously, but now at a location that I can't find on Google Maps

Tony and Dave S jointly take control of the already weakened Franco-Bavarians. Mark in charge of the Prussian Corps in the centre, Tel covering the Right (Northern) Flank. Jim in charge of the Russian Cavalry to the South.

From Furness Wargamers in Shakos

Another battle report from Dave M.

Battle of Seehausen

This is the first battle of the 1813 Campaign to be fought at the club, notable by the absenteeism of a number of players. I was drafted in as a Russian liaison officer who ended up in charge of the Prussian II Corps.

One other battle had been previously fought away from the club and had set up the current situation.

The following battle report was posted later by Dave M.

Moon Walker

Does Star Wars count as historical gaming since it happens 'A long time ago...'?

It does seem to cause even more arguments over 'historical accuracy' than Napoleonics. An apocryphal battle on the moon of Endor, as the Imperials detect a covert Rebel base hidden on it.

A much bigger game than last week. And an 'Ogre' finally makes an appearance in this rules mod, as a giant AT-AT Walker appears on the scene. Not too mention Speeders, X-Wings, TIEs and Jedi.

From Furness Wargamers with Force

Force on Force

Paul brought in his HO Scale Star Wars figures. Using once more a modified set of Ogre rules. Only three troop types, Leader, Trooper and Speeder to keep things simple.

Initial forces were 1 Leader and a squad of 5 troopers assigned to each of the two Heroic Rebel Leaders (Tony & Tel)and the two Imperial Lackeys (Jim & Mark). Reinforcements were available randomly depending upon the number of bases captured. Role a die per base, 5 get trooper or Leader, 6 get Speeder or Trooper or Leader.

From Furness Wargamers with Force

Battle of Legoland

Paul digs out his Battlewagons rules again, this time a hypothetical encounter based upon the real life Battle of Heligoland, which saw the deployment of Austro-Hungarian naval assets in assistance of Prussia during the Second Schleswig War.

From Furness Wargamers at Sea