Bryan Ansell

Through various wargaming forums, I heard that Bryan Ansell passed away yesterday.

Although I never met or talked to him, he had a large influence on me when I was starting out in wargaming during the 80s. As a Games Workshop afficionado during those days, his name was very familiar to me, most notably because he was mentioned as first author on my very first miniature ruleset I ever bought, Warhammer 1st edition.

He also was featured with his chaos army in Warhammer Armies for the 3rd edition, in a very iconic photograph.

Thank you for everything you did for the wargaming hobby!

Updating the magazine index ...

I'm updating the magazine index ... the Xmas break is a good opportunity to do that.

Not that I'm running behind that much. Mostly the latest issues of Wargames Soldiers & Strategy need to entered. Since I stopped my Miniature Wargames subscription some months ago, my influx of new issues is now manageable, although I did buy a stack of backcopies of Vae Victis in November.

I noticed that apparantly I never did receive WSS 125. Stuff to read (magazines, books, ...) is entering our house at such a pace that sometimes things remain unread for months, so it's sometimes not obvious if an issue of a particular magazine is missing. Anyway, a quick email to WSS was quickly answered, and a replacement copy is now in the mail. Thank you Karwansaray!

But what are my wargaming plans for 2024? Honestly, difficult to say. Games have been scarce in 2023, so at elast I should play more games. And my favourite convention CRISIS will be organized again in November (not in Antwerp, but in nearby Sint-Niklaas,). So something to look out for! Perhaps I might even set up a game there ... :-)

Horn of the Dragon (2)

After a first playtest of my homebrewn fantasy rules, I decided to set up a second battle. When testing new rules, I always like to go for what I would call "unusual situations". After all, most wargaming rules operate within a specific set of assumptions: density of troops, density of terrain, etc. But they also operate under scenario assumptions - whether the game is a straight battle or whether roleplaying and other story elements are part of the scenario.

So for a second playtest I decided to set up a classic scenario, based on Thistlewood, an article that appeared many decades ago in White Dwarf (issue 45) for Warhammer 1s edition, and written by Joe Dever. It is the type of fantasy battle that drew me into fantasy wargaming: a combination of battle and certain elements of roleplaying, which is also something I would like to see  in my own Horn of the Dragon rules.

(There is a whole series of blogposts on Thistlewood on the BroadSword and Beasts blog).

But first, the original article. I still have a complete run of White Dwarf 1-84, so it was easy for me to look it up.

 

Then, the setup. I do have a decent collection of late 80s fantasy figures and scenery, so to remain in the spirit of Thistlewood, these were drafted once again in service.

An overall view of the battlefield. I tried to recreate the original map as close as possible, but some interpretation is always necessary. It doesn't make much sense to recreate maps to the millimeter, but it's more important to capture the spirit of the scenario.

The Village of Thistlewood. The houses are cardboard houses from the old Warhammer Townscape set, and originally made available through the Warhammer 2nd edition scenario packs.

The Wizard's Tower. It's a resin model by Gedemco, and 80s Belgian wargaming company.

Since my rules are unit-based rather than figure-based, I had to translate the figures given in the text to a number of equivalent units. Nothing too complicated ...

Orc units and Pack Wolves.

More Orc units, the Wyvern, and Ugrash Ka, the hill giant leader of the Orcs.

The King's Army.

More units of the King's Army. I used some of my old chaos centaurs for the Royal Centaur unit.

More units of the evil forces. Trolls as well as undead.

Another view of the troll and undead units.

Now the only thing left to do is to play the game :-)

Horn of the Dragon (1)

Last night Eddy and I playtested my new set of fantasy wargaming rules. Originally, there would be 5 of us, but due to various personal circumstances, three of my friends had to cancel, so this left the both of us with plenty of time to test out some rule concepts.

It has become a running joke in our gaming group that one day I would design "the ultimate set of fantasy rules". That is of course a moving target. Rules ideas and fads in wargaming come and go, so any ruleset will only reflect the preferences of the wargamers at that point in time. But it is fun to tinker with one's own rules (at least I think so). So we had a first playtest of "Horn of the Dragon". The title is a playful reference to a fantasy roleplaying campaign I played many, many years ago, but I think it sounds cool. Wargaming is an industry of cool, after all.

But anyway, for this first game I dug out some old fantasy collections. One is a Barbarian army, mostly old Citadel and Grenadier figures, and the other a Lizardmen army, mostly Harlequin figures. I also wanted to add some fun elements, and hence I introduced the "Behemoths": elephants for the Barbarians, and giant reptiles/saurians for the Lizardmen. I set the game in an Egyptian desert. It's a fantasy game, after all!

The rules were inspired by well-tested mechanisms that I particularly like:

1. Roll for activation on a per-unit basis;
2. All combat is done by units (no individual figures);
3. No figure removal (keep as many figures on the table for as long as possible, that's the whole point of miniature wargaming), so that means keeping track of the status of each unit by markers;
4. Combat must be fast enough such that it doesn't become a slug, after all, movement and manoeuvre is the fun part in wargaming, not the endless rolling of dice.
5. Hex-based, so that movement is quick. No fiddling around with tape measures.

As I mentioned before, I also added "Behemoths", and the mechanisms for those were inspired by an article in Wargames Soldiers & Strategy issue 97, "Elephant Archos", written by Jeff Jonas. It describes a game featuring elephants, and based on the battle of Raphia, and apparently one of the few ancient battles in which there was actual elephant-elephant combat (didn't check that, though). Behemoths could be hesitant to move forward, or get into a rage  making them stronger, but also more prone to stampeding.

During and after the game, we had some good discussion about what worked and what didn't, and how we would tune the rules towards the next playtest.

I won't bother the reader with a detailed battle account, so here are some pictures (more pictures in Eddy's battlereport on BGG):

TSA Bring&Buy

About two weeks ago (October 15), Tin Soldiers Antwerp organized a 2nd hand event to give wargamers the opportunity to sell their old junk. With the demise of the bigger miniature wargaming cons in Belgium, this type of smallish gaming events is a nice alternative to meet up with old friends and to buy some stuff.

So, what's the loot? 

There's always room for more medieval types in my collection, so I bought a painted set of 5 mounted knights. Unfortunately, one knight lost his arm and shield during the transport back home, we can quickly repair that.

From another wargamer, I bought this nice pair of carts / baggage wagons. These are always a nice addition to any scenario.

I'm an addict of old wargaming books and booklets (although I do have a rather sizable collection already), and I'm always on the lookout for miniature fantasy figures form the 70s and 80s.

Last but not least, a complete set of Vae Victis, issues 1-60, with all the games still unused inside the magazines.

It was a nice event, and so a lot of wargaming junk got moved around. A good quote I heard on the day: "Wargaming stuff moves around all the time, being passed from wargamer to wargamer, in a continuously repeating cycle. Somewhere in the future, the last wargamer standing will have accumulated all our collective wargaming stuff, as a sort of wargaming black hole. And when that wargamer dies, wargaming ceases to exist as a hobby."

ACW Naval game

A late gaming report, written up by Eddy ....

Yesterday (October 21), Jean-Pierre hosted a game of Sail and Steam Navies: Naval Battle System 1840 to 1880 for us. As this was our first play of those rules JP had decided on a nice introductory scenario : 4 USS ships versus 4 CSS ships on the mighty Mississippi river with some sandbanks thrown in for good measure.

David, the great-grandson of a CSA soldier, preferred playing the USS and it only made sense that JP joined him so both the experienced naval wargamers were on one side.

From looking at the ship cards it becomes immediately clear that in that day and age, no 2 ships are the same and in fact are radically different. So while the experienced USS commanders opted to steam up the Mississippi in a tight squadron I decided on a novel approach that always worked well historically : splitting my force. The CSS Gov Moore was little more than a fast platform for executing a ramming attack and I fully intended to exploit that by trying to outflank the USS squadron.

The mighty CSS fleet executing my plan:

Of course it was all too obvious and the USS squadron changed course to overwhelm my lonely rammer, but made the tactical mistake of leading that effort with their only decent gunnery platform, leaving my other 3 ships free to blast the lesser USS ships.

One thing about the period which got very well reflected in the rules : it's hard to do enough damage to actually sink a ship - so the encounter pretty much ended in a draw. But we managed to get a good number of turns in as the rules are simple once you play a turn or two. We got a ramming action in, had a critical hit, a crucial initiative die roll that could have changed the story and all the stuff you need to have a nice wargaming afternoon.

What I really liked about the rules is that they're both fast-playing and are exactly at the detail level I want them to be. Also, the research gone into this game is staggering - the heart and soul of which are the ship cards. Hundreds of them, often more than 1 for a ship that got upgraded during the war.

A final note on the models used : there's just one word for them : staggeringly detailed and accurate. As this was the first outing of the models as well I fully expected them to either sink or blow up immediately, but that was not the case. Looking forward to JP introducing a raid, fortresses, boarding actions and all the other good naval stuff.

Fort Liezele

The village where I live is also the site of the best-kept armoured fort that once formed part of the National Redoubt  around Antwerp. "Fort Liezele" as it is known, recently got a complete overhaul. It is of course a military heritage site, but also has a lot of other functions.

Part of the renovation was upgrading the current museum inside the fort. The museum focuses on the building of the fort during the pre-WW1 period, but also on the outbreak of the war and the role of the forts before WW1 got bogged down in trench warfare. Fort Liezele was not realy invovled in the fighting - the German breakthrough towards Antwerp happened in another sector of the defensive perimeter around Antwerp. It's also the reason why Fort Liezele barely received any damage (and also, only 1 soldier died during August 1014 in the Fort before the Fort surrendered).

I'm also completing my training as a guide to the museum and the Fort. When there was a call last year for new guides, I of course volunteered.

But anyway, here are some pictures of the renewed museum. I restrict them to only the uniforms, for the other things, you might have to come and visit yourself ;-)

The end of an era ...

I didn't renew my subscription for Miniature Wargames this month.

I have been subscribed to Miniature Wargames ever since Henry Hyde took over as editor (and when Battlegames was folded in Miniature Wargames), back in 2013. I also have an almost complete collection of all issues since issue 1 (see also the Wargames Magazine Index).

But during the last year, my print magazines failed to arrive every month. Granted, the helpful people at the publisher's subscription services send me a replacement copy every time I asked for one, but this situation couldn't go on. It makes no sense to pay for a magazine that doesn't end up in your mailbox.

"What about a digital subscription?" Sure, but I like having a paper magazine in my mailbox and in hand, to sit down and read it. I know from personal experience I rarely read pdf magazines - they just pile up in unread digital archives. I spend most of my working day in front of computer screens, so I don't want to spend my evenings staring at screens as well.

I don't know why the magazine doesn't arrive in my mailbox. It could be anything, perhaps my local postman is snatching them up (maybe a wargamer?). Perhaps cross-channel mail has become unreliable since Brexit (that's one of the explanations the publisher gave me)? Who knows? But the end result is I'm not getting my magazines...

If due to Brexit, it's really ravaging my hobby. My magazines don't arrive anymore, all sorts of trouble with orders from the UK (basically stopped ordering from the UK, unless there's no other option), and two major conventions I used to attend and run games for stopped operating (not only due to Brexit, but it was a contributing factor).

So I guess I'll start collecting back issues from all sorts of 2nd hand sales from now on. Luckily, there's always WSS, for which I still have a subscription :-)

A new project?

A few days ago, a package arrived in the post.

It was no surprise, of course, since I ordered it myself. A 28mm MDF model of the Château d'Hougoumont, from Sarissa. The idea is this will be the nucleus of a new project, focusing on the fighting around the famous Château on the French left flank / Allied right flank at Waterloo.

I am not sure whether this project will ever be completed, but we have to start somewhere. The trigger probably was I gave away all my old 1/72 plastic Napoleonic figures. They sat unused in my storage for over 15 years. But a wargamer isn't a real wargamer without some Napoleonic figures in his collection, hence the new project.

Beneath the Lily Banners

2 weeks ago, July 1 to be precise, some of us played a game set in the 17 century. Sadly, I wasn't there due to exam grading still going on, but a battle report can be found here.

Here are some more pictures (courtesy of Wim VdB):

To The Strongest: Byzantines vs Sassanids

This weekend we played an Ancients battle. Jean-Pierre hosted the game, using his excellent Byzantine and Sassanid armies. The ruleset we used was To The Strongest, which we never used before.

First things first, the pictures (some more can be seen here):

Bart, Jean-Pierre (umpire and host), David, Eddy. We rolled for sides. Bart and myself would command the Byzantines, Eddy and David the Sassanids. The setup of the battle was a straightforward encounter, both lines already set up when we arrived.

Eye-catching miniatures were the Elephants in the Sassanid army. Also known as Pachydermi ;-)

A view as seen from the Byzantine side. David and Eddy pondering their tactics (and taking photographs).

Another view as seen from the Byzantine army.

The battle starts. The Byzantine left flank (commanded by me) sends its cavalry forwards. The idea was to use an oblique line - we would try to hammer the enemy on the left, and draw out his infantry in the centre and our right, with perhaps a slight hope that the elephants would stampede.

The Byzantine cavalry is encountered by the Sassanid Cavalry on the same flank. This would spell the start of defeat for the Byzantines.

The game in full swing. The Byzantine right flank is almost decimated, and things look good for the Sassanids.

A top view - Byzantines at the bottom. Note the approaching Sassanid cavalry on the bottom left towards the Byzantine camp.

Another view of the same situation.

A close-up view as seen from the Byzantine camp.

Sassanid cavalry attacking the Byzantine camp. This would seal victory for the Sassanids.

Alas, the Pachydermi never entered battle. So we did enjoy a good stampede!

Anyway, some thoughts:

• It had been a long time since I had played an Ancients game, not being a fan at all of the DBx style of games - although we have used Hail Ceasar for a number of games. This game was a pleasant surprise: an Ancients game without too much fiddling ...
• ... however, to my taste, there were still a bit too much "bells and whistles" in the To The Strongest rules. But that has more to do with my obsession to strive for streamlined rules rather than the rules themselves. Ancients rules sometimes can devolve a bit too much into: "+1 for light cavalry when attacked by cataphracts except when in difficult ground during the Spring". Ok, I'm exaggerating a bit, but it felt like that a bit. YMMV.
• The activation system works very well. I hadn't fully grasped the technicalities of the rules, but basically, you want to keep going with units as long as you can. On our left Byzantine flank, we were a bit hesitant during the first turn, and in hindsight, that probably did cost us the victory. The distinction between "easy" and "difficult" activations felt a bit weird though.
  
• The gridded system works ok, but the idea of having 2 units in a single cell seemed a bit strange. Why not having one unit per cell and double cell density? But I need to study the rules again to make a final judgement.

Oh yeah, one final thing. Bart and me were defeated 12-0 in victory points. We tried to claim at least a minor moral victory (out of habit), but no, ... the game was a solid victory for David and Eddy commanding the Sassanids.