Back Again

Tuesday and the club has got back together after the Christmas recess. Not too many turned up and only a few games in play.

Martin was once again trialling a battle for his scenario book for Cheer Boys, Cheer! and, like last time, was short of terrain as the club owns no wide hills, barring a couple of foam ones, for making valleys.

The Battle of Morton's Ford, 6th Feb, 1864

The Rebels were starting to get a bit worried as the Blues crossed the river unopposed except for the cannons which themselves were coming under counter-battery fire from the Union positions on the far side of the river. This was pretty ineffectual due to the fortifications.

From Furness Wargamers

Ancient Antics

Finally got roped into doing DBA for the first time in a mini tournament with six players. A round-robin with each game was nominally twenty minutes each. Armies were randomly allocated from Paul's central collection of plastics and I ended up with the Sea People, who were apparently half Viking - half Village People.

From Furness Wargamers

Recon in force

Had nothing better to do on Saturday so went on a trip to the land of Tykes and journeyed to Recon, one of the smaller conventions, and organised by the Wakefield and Ossett Wargamers, being held in (or rather outside) Pudsey. Went the scenic route via Settle before hitting the nightmare that is Bradford traffic system.

From Conventions

Magic Formula

At a loss for games on Tuesday, didn't fancy a small DBA tournament, set in what looked like Egypt judging by the pyramids and sphinxes, and the Uncharted Seas game was already full.

Didn't bring my usual selection of games and unfortunately everybody thought likewise so we were sort of stuck at what to do. Craig normally brings something along but as he hadn't currently arrived, it was decided to do the 'summon Craig ritual' and send me out to get my games. True to form the ritual worked and by the time I got back Craig was there setting up a game of Formula D (De as was).

Use to play this game enough in the past (with Jon, Ray and Ian) to actually have full World Champions and running two cars each, but this is the first time playing the new version.

The new version has flashier components than the old, with peg based dashboard rather than the paper and pencil pads formally used. The cars look smaller than previous and are one piece but coloured rather than the old with their clip on wings which you could mix and match.

The race was a two lapper on a proper racing circuit (Hockenheim) rather than one of the gimmicky street racing ones included in the new version. Six players racing one car each.

Didn't get off to a good start, taking two collision damages in the first third of the track and leaving most of my tires on the tarmac.

Everybody bar Craig headed into the pits at the end of lap one, and being within a turn of each other a large tailback ensured. Not sure that the pit rules were done properly as I didn't think you could stall in the pits; either fast or slow stop and out in Fourth gear (or lower) regardless of the pit roll. Another new thing in this version is the limited ability to fix two damage to other areas of the car as well as renewing the tyres.

More carnage going around the second lap but not from my car. Jim's Tractor ended up falling apart half way round the second lap with Keir's soon to follow. Did manage to use up all my tires and brakes to just survive the last corner, and putting myself one step ahead of my rival for third\fourth place. Thought I had blown it at the end as I rolled one short of the finishing line, but thankfully the guy behind was just as bad at rolling the die as I was and came up two short of the line. So staggered across the finish line in third.
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What (Space) Armada?

A Steam-punk\Victorian Sci Fi mini campaign set out in the asteroid fields, which apparently are filled with independent Cornish miners and the fleets of the Great (and not so great) Powers which are trying to take over.

Matt - Italians (Red Pins)
Tel - Germans (Black)
Paul - British (Light Green)
Dave M - French (Blue)
X - Spanish (Yellow)

From Furness Wargamers in Space

Asteroids are spread out at roughly two to three hex intervals, making a merchant\supply ship with your fleet essential if you need to hop quickly from one to another.

Builds are done at the end of each turn and use a mechanism similar to that used in a Ancient Greek naval campaign done long ago at the club. The better ships are harder to build (12+ for a Battleship) but get easier after each turn of failure. (plus one per turn)

Poor Spain nearly got knocked out early, becoming the victim of the first battle, and ended up with all their asteroids captured by others leaving only 'a ragtag fugitive fleet' of destroyers and merchants floating in neutral space. Maybe an idea for a TV series there. Unfortunately this gave the Italians a number of captured ships, including a battleship.



Everybody else is slowly heading towards the victory condition of 6 out of the available 19 asteroids. Matt moves his fleet into the same hex that I've just captured in an attempt to hold him off, having to give up one of my hexes to move there. It's an even fight, both of us having a Battleship, Fortified Cruiser and a Merchant, but some bad rolls for damage control doomed my ships after the first exchange of fire.



So the Italians end as the dominant force in the asteroid belt, which might make up for getting kicked around in Africa.
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Armoured Carts

Set somewhere in Poland sometime in 1915 during a period of fluid warfare. Played with Warhammer Great War, the Russian list is unofficial as the supplement covering this area is a long time delayed.

Both Germans and Russians are given the same objective, take control of the ruins in the centre of the table. Shell-holes and barbwire was set up by the players without knowing entry points.

From Furness Wargamers

The Germans got a captured Russo-Balt Armoured Car to play with, scratch built by Dave M; again no official rules for this type so guesswork involved. Not as good as the ones the British get to play with. Reinforcements are available based on die rolls at the start of each turn.

The AC rushes, or more like tootles at 9" rough and 12" on-road, down the road towards the enemy in an attempt to slow their advance, and maybe give the German troops enough time to get into position.



The Russian Infantry ignore the Car, not even attempting to swarm it. Instead they set up their HMG and after a couple of bursts destroy its forward MG and then the Car itself.

Questions were asked over the mobility of the HMGs as according to the rules, once setup they should remain in place for the rest of the game. This would of left the Russian MG blind to the rest of the battlefield so implemented a couple of turns delay and then allow it to move again.

Assault on the main ruins. Both forces arrived in consecutive turns but it was the Germans who launched an assault, should Russians have got cover save as both forces were internal to the building. Germans soon become out numbered as extra Russian troops pour in.



Forces in woods not particularly well protected as both platoons resident there get chipped away.

Russian Mobile reinforcements turn up. Three Armoured Cars, Two Russo-Balts making their way past the wreck of the German vehicle, and a Putilov-Garford reversing to try and get it's rear-mounted gun into action.



Additional German troops finally turn up and advance towards the centre, managing to wipe out a platoon of Russians who were pursuing the survivors from the big melee.



Unfortunately this wasn't enough to take the victory away from the Russians, who dominated the centre.

Things might of played quicker if the forces were entering on the long edges rather than having to move across the table. It took a number of turns till any action happened as the forces tried and close on each other.

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Prior to the battle there was reports of a strange unidentified object floating overhead. Apparently its green skinned inhabitants had got confused over the date of the big space battle, turning up a week late or centuries early depending on your time-frame.


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Moonbase Alfalfa

Its big battle time as the heavyweights from various fleets move into the contested region, which is also currently being visited by a certain free-roaming moonbase.

From Furness Wargamers in Space

Once again it's 'Good guys' vs 'Bad Guys'. All ships and terrain from Geordie Paul (not LaForge). Best of three capture, two planets and the base in between being the objectives.

The 'good guys' reach the moonbase first and enlist their help against the oncoming hoard. Not that it did the base much good as waves of Cylon Raiders destroyed nearly all the Eagles and Hawks newly launched from the base.

Even worse, The Borg Cube decides to do a bit of grazing, assimilating part of the base and repairing itself in the process. This damage was caused by the wave gun from the blue ship sent to protect the base.



The Blue Battlestar and friends suddenly work out that the Klingon is almost impossible to hit due to it's speed boost from its elite crew. Even combining weapons only gives a slight chance of doing light damage.



Both available versions of the Enterprise head to engage the Cube after easily dealing with the two Shadow craft.

The Wave Gun gets lucky and recharges straight off (a nice 6 on the die) and lines up for another closer ranged shot at the giant Oxo cube.



At this point the game was called, with the general agreement that the bad guys were going to lose, as the combined power of the ships present should take out the already chipped Borg, leaving only the Klingons and Cylons contesting a single planet.
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