Battle of Hoth

The new Richard Borg game has recently landed and it seems all the cool kids have a copy (or at least 2 of my friends have and I'm counting them as the cool kids).  Using the very familiar Memoir 44/Command and Colours model this is the Battle of Hoth game, complete with snowtroopers, Speeders, and of course, AT-ATs.

I guess of all the Star Wars settings this is probably the most iconic for a large battle rather than skirmishes, and the game mechanics common to Richard Borg's games are ideal.  I'm guessing just about everyone has played one of the Borg games with cards activating squads or vehicles in the Left, Centre or Right section of the board, and special dice determining casualties or causing units to retreat.  It's one of my favourite game systems and perfect for snowy battles on Hoth.

The game is very quick to pick up and games last about 30 minutes... we managed to squeeze in 3 games comfortably in an evening, in amongst chatting.

Out initial game was the 1st scenario pitting 2 infantry patrols against each other (with a couple of probe droids on the Empire side for good measure).  We then followed this up with a Snowspeeder scenario, where the Empire come tooled up with an AT-AT  as well as infantry squads.  In all the games the Stormtroopers behaved exactly like you'd expect, repeatedly failing to hit anything thanks to some very unlucky dice rolling by Darth Andrew.  

The Snowspeeders proved really effective, zipping around and wiping out multiple Imperial squads.  The AT-AT is a tough beast, slow but powerful and very hard to damage, so I decided to ignore it completely and concentrate on the Stormtroopers.  The final game (a repeat of the Snowspeeder scenario) was very close with the Imperials almost claiming the win, but let down again by some unlucky dice... clearly I was using the Force to influence the dice rolls!

Great fun and I can see this having lots of  replayability.

1 Hour Skirmish Wargames

 

I've played a couple of games of James Lambshead's skirmish rules recently... one set in the Russian Civil War, and the other using the Ancients/Medieval version.  They're a card based system with no dice at all.  Each player has a deck including a Joker. Cards are drawn to determine initiative, to activate figures with a number of points (from 1 for an Ace to 13 for a King) and to resolve shooting, melee and morale.  Drawing a Joker ends the turn and players go through their card decks pretty quickly.  But this does mean turn length is unpredictable and figures may activate multiple times or not at all in each turn

 I failed to take any photos of the RCW game (always a sign of a good game!) but remembered when we played a 2nd game last night.  The original book goes from the 17thC onwards, including rules for Pulp and SciFi games.  The 2nd book takes it back to Ancients through to Medieval times.

In the 1st game my Bolsheviks attempted to overrun some dug-in British Interventionist troops.  The turn limit meant I really needed to press home the attack.  Hand to Hand combat gives an advantage to the attacker, but instead I got drawn into a long range firefight which got me nowhere and gave the British the victory.

The Ancients/Medieval version is very similar but with enough differences to cause us some initial confusion.  In this version there's an extra step where your opponents  armour makes it easier to hit them but they're more likely to shrug off the attack.  Cavalry also have some advantages in combat and can also break off freely from a melee with infantry, ready to charge again.

As you'd expect from Skirmish rules the scenarios are quite themed and detailed... no simple encounters here.  They range from battles among rocks to a Robin Hood tax collector raid.

In the original Napoleonic scenario the French and British are squabbling over an abandoned cannon.  We shifted the action slightly... a Saxon raiding party have stolen Arthur's  cows and Aelswine the prize pig.  These have stubbornly ground to a halt  in the middle of the table, allowing Arthur and his troops to catch up.  We stuck with the victory conditions from the original scenario in which the Saxons have to end the game with at least 1 figure within 6" of the animals, while the Britons have to drive them off.  In hindsight this was never going to work... it really needed the firepower the Napoleonic setting would have brought, or for us to start much closer (games are usually 3'x3' or 4'x4').  My fault for not thinking the scenario through.

The Saxons sensibly drew back, maximising the distance and, although Arthur and his knights charged home they weren't able to make much headway.  The scenarios have a tight turn limit (5 turns in this case) and it didn't help that my 1st card was a Joker, meaning turn #1 was over before we'd moved!  Despite this I enjoyed the game.  

The rules work well.  The armour rules mean that light troops are still effective... often in games like this they are spear-fodder but their nimbleness means they are actually very effective, although if they fail to dodge then it's game over.  Cavalry feel right... charging, pulling back and charging home again.  So with a better chosen scenario these are definitely on the regular gaming list.  Next might be something a bit more modern....

Therapy stickers

 I've been very demotivated with painting  and organising figures recently... I go through phases of this from time to time but lately it's been a real issue.  I've got some figures out to paint and then they sit looking sadly at me and making me feel guilty for not picking up the brush. It'll be back in the box for a while for them I think.

In an attempt to make a little progress I decided to have a go at sorting out the wooden tiles used in Commands & Colours: Medieval.  When I bought a second hand copy recently I also got the Crusades expansion.  The previous owner had kindly put the stickers on all the core game tiles but hadn't played the game, and hadn't touched the Crusades set... maybe the hours of stickering and organising had left them with no enthusiasm for the game.  So last night I stuck on some music...Public Service Broadcasting since you asked...

...and began sorting out the different tiles by size and colour, and then the long job of applying the stickers.  And it was just what I needed!  Turns out it's a very mindful, relaxing activity... sort the cubes apply the sticker... make sure it's straight (my ASD tendencies meant that was really important!)...occasionally stroke a dog and ask him if he thinks the stickers look straight...

Yay... more stickering tonight!

Blogging - more alive than you might think

A slightly navel-gazing post today.. 

I started my blog back in 2012, more out of curiosity than anything else and as a way of tracking games and my glacial progress at painting things.  Blogs were very popular then and all the cool kids seemed to have one.  Compared with many other blogs I have a relatively small amount of views (and some of them are definitely bots!) but it was never about numbers, and the blog has connected me to lots of great people and a whole real-life gaming group.

Since then times have changed and it has felt like blogs have fallen out of favour...these days the cool kids all have Substacks, podcasts and vlogs and people post directly to Facebook and Bluesky (and... god help us... Tiktok)

 I've always kept my personal posts on FB largely separate from my gaming life but it's a great way to connect to companies and specialist groups. I've used Bluesky more recently as a platform and it seems pretty good (@red3584.bsky.social‬) .  X/Twitter seems have been largely abandoned thankfully.

But.... I had a bit of a delve into my Blogger reading list which had crept up to over 160 blogs and decided I would cull the ones that were no longer active.  I'd expected this to be a lot but to my surprise found most were still thriving.  I removed ones that had no posts more recent than 2024 and found this was only about 25% of my list, so maybe the Blogosphere is a lot healthier than I'd first thought.  Most blogs had posts in the last month and we all seem to be enjoying playing games, painting toys, and rambling on about it!  A nice uplifting moment!

I'm considering a bit of a tidy up of the blog and playing around with the layout and look... time for a freshen up.  Although there's a always a danger I'll break something if I do that!  Maybe a change of name too although I'll keep the address.

Commands and Colours: Medieval

 

Recently I've played quite a few games using variants of the Commands & Colours rules, and each time we've come away remarking² that they pretty much always work really well for different periods, and tick the box of providing a simple but challenging game that reflects the period well.  Crucially there are enough similarities across the games that we can pick them up quickly (even if inevitably we forget a few rules on the night!).  There's nothing worse than spending half the evening explaining rules, clarifying points, forgetting to explain other rules, fumbling through a few turns and then finding the evenings over!  It's also why we often play Hail Caesar/Pike and Shotte/Black Powder .

Inspired by the C&C games Anthony and I have been playing recently I'd cast my eye on eBay and BGG and spotted a real bargain available with a set of the Medieval version of C&C plus last year's Crusades expansion at a really cheap price.   In fact the seller had helpfully stickered all the blocks in the main set but it was otherwise unplayed, and the Crusades supplement was brand new!

So last week we tried out one of the scenarios from the base game.  The rules suggest starting with the battle of Thannuris so off we went to the dusty plains of the Sassanian border.  In this battle Belisarius has been sent out to deal with the Sassanians who have disrupted some building work.  2 of the Byzantine commanders have been a bit over-enthusiastic and are positioned ahead of the main army, making them a nice target.  In the actual battle they were overrun and this forced Belisarius to retreat.

The rules are mostly the same as C&C Ancients but cavalry are able to ignore some hits from infantry, and heavy troops from medium/lights, medium from lights etc.  This means cavalry become very powerful... both in terms of heavy hitting Cataphracts, but also speedy Light Cavalry who can evade and fire so the the Parthian Shot rule.   Commanders also have a pool of points which can used for some. special 'Inspired Actions' some of which are specific to different armies

I was the unnamed Sassanid general and tried to recreate the historical outcome by concentrating on the exposed troops on my right... my left flank barely moved during the game but did take some pot shots at the Byzantines. I succeeded in battering the isolated units but at quite a cost, meaning we were fairly close all the way through the game.  Anthony then cunningly began to hound a couple of my Light Cavalry, forcing the back.  Light Cavalry are very nimble which is great but it also means that when they retreat, they tend to go a long way back and I kept getting pressed back to the board edge, losing blocks and ultimately enough units to hand a close victory to the Byzantines.

It's an interesting choice of period for the publishers to have gone with... probably not what most people would think of when they are Medieval... but interesting with the focus on cavalry and the clash of light horse versus heavy knights.  Really enjoyed the games and looking forward to trying more of the scenarios and the Crusaders

Jacobite Rising - The Battle of Littleferry

This week's game was a long-awaited game of Jacobite Rising, the Commands and Colours variant. Rather than using the usual blocks that come with the game, we used Anthony's rather lovely 54mm figures with wound markers to denote hits.

The game is largely the same as most other C&C games with some special, period specific, strategy card (which have a very Scottish Shortbread tin aesthetic).  

One of the most significant rule changes is that a unit which retreats due to rolling a 'flag' has to test or it may rout completely.  I guess this reflects the general reluctance to stand and fight on both sides, and especially the brittleness of the Highlanders... great going forward, not so good when things begin to go wrong!

We played the Battle of Littleferry scenario.  This took place in Sutherland in 1746, just before Culloden.  A Jacobite force is caught by surprise by local government Highland companies.  Crucially the Jacobite troops had become separated from their commander who retreats back to Dunrobbin castle for safety.  Historically the government troops won a convincing victory...could I reverse the result?

The commander hiding out at Dunrobbin Castle

We started with a slightly gamey move.  The Jacobite commander was at serious risk of being killed or captured and giving the Government side a victory point but there was no penalty for having him run away (other than not having a Leader in the table) so the brave Earl of Cromarty ran away!  It felt a little underhand but there was little point leaving him where he was.

One we'd got him out of the way the Battle started in earnest.  One of the Government Highland Companies got a bit over-excited and charged but were quickly driven back and routed.  My Highlanders also proved quite brittle and a couple also decided to bug out.  The turning point came when one of my units unleashed a volley of devastating musket fire with a combination of cards (an order card which improved musketry plus a special strategy card which added to the firepower)... not a very 'Highland' tactic but we decided they must have been trained by the French or perhaps they were French in disguise!

Although I was now down to 50% strength, this gave me the last flag I needed and the Government troops slunk away although it was a damaging win for the Jacobites.  Great system which captured the feel of the period really well.

Skyteam

My son gave me a copy of this for Father's Day and we finally got round to trying it out at the weekend.  It's a quick (20-30 minute) 2 player dice placement game... player 1is the pilot and player 2 takes the role of co-pilot.  Each turn  you roll 4 dice and allocate them to tasks.  Some of these have to be completed in sequence, and some require a specific value on the dice. Of course, inevitably there are more tasks than dice!

Some of these taks are mandatory... adjusting the pitch of the plane and adjusting speed.  Others have to be completed before the end of the game.  Not surprisingly this includes things like making sure the landing gear and flaps are down, and using the radio to clear other planes out of your flightpath.  You can also use dice to brew up some coffee which helps the crew's concentration and let's you alter the value of dice.  Each turn your plane descends another 1000ft and gets a bit closer to the airport.

Lots of planes for Air Traffic Control to clear

If all goes well, and you've completed all the tasks, have the plane flying level and at the right speed, and haven't crashed into another plane... then you successfully land and get a round of applause from your passengers! The 2 big challenges for players though are that you can't see the other players dice, and you aren't allowed to talk during each round!  This means you need to have a good plan in between rounds, get lucky with the dice, and be good at 2nd guessing what your partners hand of dice might be by the dice they are putting  down.  This last bit is something I'm never good at which did lead to lots of eye-rolling by my son!!

I have to say we both loved it... it's simple but challenging and really thematic.  We were very pleased with our progress each turn and had most of the tasks completed or well underway... right up to the point where we realised we'd miscalculated the distance to the airport and crashed in a field somewhere near Montreal!!

The game includes more challenging scenarios with bad weather, tricky airports, fuel leaks etc but for now we'd be happy just getting on the ground!!  Highly recommended... one of the best games I've played in a long time!!!