Medieval Tournament (4)

Coming Friday, we will play a "Grand Melee".

The format will be that each player will be able to control any knight during his turn, but every player will also have (in secret) a number knight assigned randomly to root for (and score victory points with). Thus, there will also be a form of meta-game, trying to figure out who is (secretly) backing which knight to gain victory.

I needed cards for each foot knight (players will receive 4 card at random at the start of the game). I photographed 16 of my foot knight miniatures, and made up some medieval looking names.

Medieval Tournament (3)

I found one more item in my wargaming library:

Again, I am merely reading it for inspiration to come up with my own rules.

Meanwhile, I have started setting up the table. The big area in the middle will be the "grand melee" area. There should be enough room for hex-based movement (since I think that movement and manoeuvre is the fun in most miniature wargames). The table will get more and more detailed over the coming weekend.

Medieval Tournament (2)

Some more inspiration for my medieval tournament game a week from now ...

I probably have more stuff lying around, we'll see what else we can dig up.

Medieval Tournament (1)

Next week the plan is to run a medieval tournament game for my gaming group.

I always had a fascination for medieval tournaments (see some previous photos of my heraldic knights here), but they're not always easy to turn into a good game. The typical joust (only one part of a tournament) always struck me as being too much rock-paper-scissors. Although a number of games have been published that recreate the medieval joust, it's unclear to me whether there are enough interesting decision points for the players to make.

So, it will not be a joust, but rather a "melee for all". A quick look into my magazine collection turned up some useful inspirational articles. A very useful one was published in Miniature Wargames (with Battlegames), issue 363.

The idea is that we start with 16 knights, and every knight is backed (in secret) by a player. We will fight several melee events (with elimination), and whoever survives in the end wins the tournament. I will of course hand out some additional victory points throughout the tournament, but I still have to come up with a good set of skirmish melee rules. I have some ideas already ...

But for now, I have time for some more historical research. Yesterday evening, I spend quite some time reading my TASCHEN copy of the Freydal Tournament book. Inspirational stuff!

TSA "Bring and Sell"

Sadly, as an aftereffect of Brexit, the Belgian wargaming convention scene as we knew it has  more or less collapsed (Crisis gone, Warcon gone, ...). So it's back to small scale club days.

One such event took place yesterday. Tin Soldiers of Antwerp organized a "Bring and Sell" event, an ideal opportunity for everyone to dump their old stuff.

The clubhouse was packed, a lot of people showed up (more pictures here).

This was my wargaming loot (I also picked up some old roleplaying stuff, but that's of less intererst for this blog):

I also met some of the old Belgian wargaming guard (going back to the late 60s or early 70s), which triggered me into making a blog or something about the history of wargaming in Belgium. We'll see.

Wet Paint: 3D Printed Jagdpanther

 

This big cat already featured in an earlier game in a slightly more embryonic state (let's say it came straight off the factory floor). It's a 3D printed Jagdpanther, printed on an FDM printer. Because of the nature of FDM printing, you do see the individual layers this model is built up off, and they are even more pronounced by the drybrushing finish on the model. For mid to late war German vehicles, this is something I can live with, as it gives a finish somewhat reminiscent of the zimmerit anti-magnetic coating usually applied in that era.

The Great Northern War revisited

 Yesterday we played a game of Black Powder, using Bart's extensive Great Northern War collection (see also out Crisis 2010 game on Poltava).

It had been a while since we played a game using the Black Powder rules (pre-Covid). We don't care that much about 1st or 2nd edition, using a mix of rules as we remember them. It's a game after all, and it's the tactics that count, not a modifier more or less on some die roll.

The scenario was based on a scenario we played before, a great river crossing. The Russians could cross using a ford, a bridge that had to be repaired, and some pontoons.

Eddy and Wim took the side of the Russians, Phil played the Swedes, while Bart was umpiring. At the end of the evening, it was more or less decided that there was a minor Russian victory: the Russians had succeeded in crossing the river, although the Swedes had held them up for some time.

Here are some photos (more photos and a report written up by Eddy to be found here: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1387808/article/41703990#41703990).

This is how the table looked when I entered Bart's wargaming den. No deployment yet, although the toys were already out.

Eddy and Wim pondering about the Russian deployment. How will they cross the wide river in front of them?

Initial Swedish deployment, focusing on known crossing points on both flanks, leaving the centre unguarded.

The Swedish left flank - the ford. Russian troops are stuck in the mud in the middle of the river. Eddy will later claim this was all part of the plan, pinning a large Swedish contingent such that the bridge on the other flank could be crossed.

The Swedish Beer Garden.

The Bridge as seen from the Russian side, heavily defended by Swedish troops. An initial attack was repulsed. A first pontoon crossing has also already taken place.

Overview of the entire river.

The Swedish left flank again. No movement, just some shots exchanged back and forth.

Heavy fighting on the Swedish right flank. More Russians are crossing using pontoons. Swedish cavalry are preparing themselves to charge - but this will turn out to be a disaster. Due to hammering by the Russian artillery, an failed command rolls, the Swedish cavalry will rout a turn later.

Another view of the Swedish right flank, moments before the Swedish cavalry routed.

 A very exciting game! As usual, we had a post-game discussion about what worked and didn't work in the scenario. And we also discussed the state of wargaming affairs in Belgium, the world, and the universe!

 

ACW: The Battle of the Great Berries

Yesterday we played a game with our homebrewn ACW rules. I based the scenario on the battle of Grossbeeren (inspired by an article in Miniature Wargames 473).

I set up the scenario as a 4 player game (with me being the umpire), but Bart had to cancel at the last minute. So I took over as plumpire (player umpire). 4 people also meant my dedicated wargames room would be a bit cramped, so I managed to get permission from the Commander in Chief to host the game in the kitchen at our large dining table...

Here are the pictures, with some commentary.

The lay out of the battlefield. Troops have to enter the tables at various entry points as marching columns.

The players (Jean-Pierre, Eddy, Wim), engaged in some pre-battle socializing. Yes, we are all middle-aged men and it shows ;-)

The opening shots. A Confederate column is marching towards a Union camp, which has trouble waking up. The prepared artillery position is still unmanned.

Napoleon (a small statuette I bought in the gift shop of the real battlefield) is our lucky general token. If you have it, you can reroll any composite die roll, but then the lucky general switches to the other side.

An overview of the Union left flank.

Another overview of the Union left flank.

Wim and Eddy discussing tactics.

The Confederacy left flank, commanded by Wim, is advancing rapidly.

The Union right flank fails to make progress. Really unlucky command rolls ...

Eddy has possession of the luck general. Surely victory must be ours! NOT!!!

Fierce battles on the Union left flank.

General overview.

The control board. We sort of decided in the post-game briefing that the weather conditions (drove by drawing a card each turn) were too harsh.

Jean-Pierre pondering his next move.

General overview.

Centre of the battlefield.

Wim looking at his marching columns.

The Union left flank again. I was commanding this position, so plenty of pictures from this side of the table.

The Union left flank again.

General overview near the end of the game.

Overall, a fun game, but as always, there was some discussion about the scenario setup and the luck (or absence of luck) of good die rolls. But the important part was that we had game among friends, some chatting, some beers. That's what wargaming is all about, after all.

New 54mm recruits

A package arrived today, with some new 54mm toy soldiers for the display cabinets in my wargaming room. I ordered them from The Tin Soldier / De Tinsoldaat, a Belgian company based in Antwerp that produces toy soldier sets in a classic style. 

So here are my 2 sets, a group of WW1 Belgian Grenadiers (my old regiment), and a trooper of the Royal Escort (Rijkswacht Koninklijk Escorte).

Warhammer Quest

One of the advantages of having a gaming group that goes back to the 80s, is that one of the gaming pals sometimes clears out his storage space, and gives away some old junk to make room.

My old gaming buddy Dirk recently gave me some original Warhammer Quest stuff.

 

Before anyone shouts "Gimme!", the content of the boxes is incomplete and pieces are missing. They probably got mixed up with the original game, which was apparently already given away. Cardboard templates are also warped. So no real collectible value. Except of course for some typical 90s Citadel miniatures, which are always useful for my fantasy games.