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a delve into my Blogger reading list which had crept up to over 160 blogs and decided I would cull the ones that were no longer active.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!!!

 

The Covenanters finally appear!

 Back in 2023(!) I succumbed to marketing genius of Warlord Games and started painting up a few of the freebie sprues that they occasionally give away with issues of WI.  In this case it was for some of the Epic scale ECW range.  I was donated a few unwanted sprues from friends, and acquired some more from eBay so have had a decent amount to paint up.  My painting speed is pretty glacial and the Covenanters have been on pause while I worked on some other bits and pieces, but I finally decided it was time to get them out on the table.

I have a decent amount of Covenanter Pike and Muskets and a smaller number of more generic troops.  The advantage of the Scots is that they fought pretty much everyone in the ECW so I have plenty of choice of opponents!  I haven't got round to painting up some Highlanders for a Montrose army so they would have to fight some English troops... Royalist or Parliament?  Who knows!

The Epic figures come in 10 figure strips which are easy to paint and look great en masse...I still haven't got round to adding flags for these yet which would definitely enhance the units. .. they're next on the to-do list.

We used Pikeman's Lament which are nice and simple.  Commanding units proved a bit of a challenge for my Scots who were obviously a bit reluctant to take on the English troops. And the musket fire was remarkably effective.  Each side had 1 unit of cavalry...my Scots lancers refused to move, but the English Dragoons proved very effective.  

The Covenanters eye up the village

I managed to drive them out of the village but only to have them hang about on my flanks proving very annoying and tying up half the army.  Not the Covenanters finest hour...here's hoping they prove more successful in future games!

The Dragoons occupy the village

AI... good or bloody annoying?

 Of course the answer is probably both!

If you've been on any wargaming related FB pages recently you can't miss the flurry of posts showing AI generated animations of wargames figures.  These seem to be mostly done using an app called Nauk Nauk.  Some are really well done and it's fun to see your own figures marching or galloping across the battlefield, at least for the first couple of times.    After all that's how we imagine them in our heads (or is that just me?)

The posts tend to generate lots of heated debate with some people getting very angry about it in the way that only a FB poster can! The arguments tend to be...

1. This is taking away legitimate work that creative and artists could have done.  This is certainly true if people are using AI to generate brand new images but in the case of animated minis, the poster has already done all the creative bit themselves in painting and basing the figure.  It's unlikely they've snatched a crust out of the mouth of an aspiring animator.

and...

2. The FB pages are being swamped by a tidal wave of animations.  Not sure this is the case either...there are quite a few because it's a novelty but most posts aren't about AI.

I reckon this will die a death in a few weeks and we'll all move on to something else to post and moan about.

Interestingly the argument that doesn't often crop up is about the huge environmental impact of AI.  There's no doubt there's a real AI revolution going on and the impact on our work and home life is accelerating rapidly, but environmentally it's going to cost us.

There's also a question about the security of apps like Nauk Nauk and what data they're harvesting.

I suspect some of the angry posters are the same kind of people who objected to those new fangled printing presses snatching work away from calligraphers!

Anyway, despite all my concerns, I couldn't resist having a go (I know... what a hypocrite!)!! I used this photo of one of my friend Anthony's 54mm Vikings...

...and turned it into this...

It was interesting, and quite fun to see the outcome but I can't see me doing anymore.

Painting update

I've had a bit of a break from painting... my usual spot in the dining room was occupied with other stuff, and I hadn't really felt in the mood.  I tend to go through fits and starts of motivation but playing a game with my ECW Covenanters earlier in the week (I'll post about that soon) reminded me that they've been languishing in a box file waiting for me to supply them with some opponents.  So it's back to the paint table

First job though was work on a couple of half-started projects.  First up are some of the Guards from the Guards of Traitor's Toll set.  I bought this at Salute and had only got as far as part assembling one sprue of guards.  These are now completed and, if there's a gap in the promised downpour over the weekend, I'll get them undercoated.  They're lovely figures, really full of character as you'd expect from Wargames Atlantic with lots of extra bits to personalise the figures...

The other figures I'd been painting were also acquired at Salute... in this case they were a freebie sprue in the bag, and I was then gifted a 2nd sprue (thanks Giles!). These are from the Quar range, also by Wargames Atlantic.  Think militarised anteaters or Clangers.  They're lovely figures and a real pleasure to paint.  I suspect they may stay unplayed as they're quite niche and everyone I've spoken to has been slightly bemused by them but not keen on actually playing with them.  I could sneak them into a Star Wars game I guess.   I am very tempted to get a few more though...