We Interrupt This Already Interrupted Game....

 ....to celebrate having played in a multi-player game with friends at a local (ie about hour away) Tabletop game convention. The first one since COVID hit.  Its mostly about non-wargame games but they have made us welcome over the years and it was a pleasure to reconnect.

15mm Battle Honours French Revolution Austrian Cuirassiers that I painted in the 90's but which are now serving Jeff as Spanish cavalry during the Peninsular War, and various other roles when needed.

The game I played in was a 6 player 15mm Peninsula battle (I forget which one! In my defence, I haven't paid much (any) attention to Wellington's Spanish campaign since the late 80's, maybe early 90's). Jeff made himself a rather impressive hex battle cloth (or "mat" I think they are called these days), and uses the Command and Colours multiplayer game rules, cards and dice. 

Under my personal command, the Spanish on the right are holding firm.
Ok OK, haven't been seriously attacked yet, just probed a little.

Elected CinC of the Anglo-Spanish army, I immediately chose to personally take command of the right wing since it contained a unit I'd painted in the 90's and passed to Jeff when I was getting out of 15's about 10 years ago. (That way I still get to play with them from time to time!)

Overview early in the game. The high ground in the centre will soon be in big trouble.

I don't mind playing the the C&C rules and cards but I admit that it can be frustrating if the cards you draw are continually poor. Sure, maybe the General I was representing was asleep for the whole game but I'd rather make my own mistakes.  Actually, I'm pretty good at making mistakes.......

The key town (ie worth a couple of victory points) remained firmly in my hands all game.

Despite the card thing, the game was damn close at times but it was an overwhelming French victory at the end, largely because the French Commander in chief (a retired veteran Infantry officer) planned well and executed his plan well and gave his less experienced fellow players advice when they asked for it, while letting them make their own decisions. 

All in all, an excellent afternoon. Now, back to the game still on my table.

And a Great Battle was Won and Lost.

Today's outing was a great success as far as I'm concerned.

Jeff now owns my old 15mm Russian and Austrian French Rev. armies and its always a pleasure to briefly resume command of some of my old units from time to time. 

A good mix of gamers either played or dropped by for a bit to chat and have a look, including old friends from the 70's and 80's  to newer friends made over the years and some new gamers giving historical minis a go for the first time.  Really glad to finally be able to put a face to my fellow wargaming blogger, The monkey that walks .

I played Dokhturov on the left, so this was my command. Lets just say that 5 hours later I was still holding our left. Jeff's terrain and armies.

The game was Austerlitz organized by Jeff using Napoleon's Battles and his 15mm troops. Yes I know, not my usual style but it did the job OK considering that most of the 8 players had never read the rules let alone played them. Looks like another NB game will follow in September. I think I might work on a QRS that I can read and understand without specialist equipment!

A rather blurry shot of Suvorov playing the role of Kutuzov and the table reencarnation of an old friend since college days who has just returned to Nova Scotia. 

Thanks to Jeff (Armchair Commander blog) and Brent for a good outing.

Oh alright, Brent and the French team won an epic victory over the allies.

Number 11: See the Pyramids Along the Nile

While digging out my 30mm figures for the Quebec game, I came across the abandoned beginnings of my 25mm Horse and Musket Turkish army which has been looking for a reason to be. I also came across a handful of test castings from 25mm Prince August Waterloo moulds I'd been given but had no reason to use. It took a couple of days for me to finally see the obvious connection.

My Turks in the backyard  3 years ago.

Roughly 20 years ago, one of my first 54mm projects (yes a deliverable with plan and target date) was to assemble a convention game based on the action at Rosetta during the 1807 British invasion of Egypt. I got side tracked into Colonials and the War of 1812. The Turks became the army of the Emir of Wadi Foulyam and fought 1850's British instead. Both armies have since retired to the England where the weather is more conducive to wargames in the great outdoors.

Retired Cairo Janisaries in a Garden  Wargame last fall. Photo snitched from Brian Carrick's Collecting Toy Soldiers Blog.

I made the 25mm Turks back in 2011 to use against Ron's SYW Austrians but after one game we were onto to something else. I never got to making cavalry or enough infantry for a proper game and since that first game, they've only been out once, a solo game 3 years ago (see 1st picture).

The moulds being made back in 2011.

The Waterloo moulds were given to me by a friend who needed a home for them but I don't want to go there. Its always seemed a shame not to use the moulds though and my sole Turkish cavalryman is a conversion from the  French lancer mould.

I'm not sure  why it took me so long to figure out the obvious. Reboot the 1807 Anglo-Turkish War but using 25mm homecast figures. The Highlanders will work fine, the British and Foreign infantry will have the wrong hats and the cavalry will probably need some converting but it'll be cheap and I'll finally have a good reason to use my little bits of 25mm desert terrain. It should also help scratch my exotic "Colonial" itch!

In any event, this just leaves one open spot in my list of 12 collections.

It'll probably also take some time though since there are a lot of other things to do. Its just good to know why I'm keeping these figures and moulds and to have a reason to cast and paint up a few when in the mood.

My Turks (with French allies) facing Ron's Austrians in an early Portable Wargame in 2011.

Of course, a One Hour Scenario wouldn't need a lot of troops.... so who knows? "Home by Christmas" maybe?

Aspern Off The Wall

A young crowd gathers at the Greenwood Sobey's Community  Room. 

It was a beautiful hot sunny summer's day today so it seemed natural to drive the hour down to Greenwood to play a game in the air conditioned Community Room at the Sobey's Supermarket. The event was to be Aspern-Essling in 15mm played with Grande Armee and at one point 7 gamers were on side. Life takes its toll as usual and we were four in the end. Valley Jeff (the Valley nickname being used o distinguish him from Yankee Jeff seen on the left above).  had organized the game and provided the troops (including a handful of my old Austrians). He was almost finished a run down on the rules when his cell went off, calling him to work for an hour or so.

Left on our own, we eyed the GA rulebook, did a quick consensus check  and  then I turned to the white board on the wall and quickly jotted down a back of a postcard set of rules based on the proposed 18thC rules posted last week but with some allowing for the Napoleonic setting and the  3" Brigade bases and what not. Not a perfect set of rules by all means but the dice flew, toy soldiers died valiantly in droves and five hours passed in a flash.

By the time Jeff returned,  Emperor Gary had nearly succeeded in driving the Imperial Guard through the middle of the Austrian army but the French flanks were on the verge of crumbling. Let me note here that Yankee Jeff & I, thinking without reason that it was Day 1, had agreed to mask the villages and strike the French center so things were not exactly going as planned.  We played another hour or so with the French staving off our best efforts to crack them. An army morale rule would have helped but I didn't think of it till it was time to convince the French that we had beat them. Both armies had suffered fearful losses but the French had lost more heavily than the Austrians and 1/2 of Aspern as well so it was close enough to the historical result to call it.


A good day of gaming all in all.