Holiday time, let's roll some dice

Who doesn't love a holiday? We are having a 'staycation' this year over Christmas/New Year so I get a chance to play a few week day games.
Yesterday Paul (The Man Cave blog) and I decided to start the Chain of Command 29 Let's Go campaign. We have both played Chain of Command before but with an umpire helping us along. It's fair to say that we had only retained a basic understanding of the rules. The whole idea of starting this campaign is for us to work through the rules in our own time and get a better working understanding.

 I laid out the first map of the campaign (including the "slope rope"- which is what you get when you finish laying out terrain and notice the elevation change on the map). Paul was the Germans defending and delaying and I was the Americans probing forward. My objective was to get at least one unit off the left hand side of the table. Sounds easy in theory.
I managed to get two jump off points quite far across the table - about two thirds of the way to my goal. That may have been my problem. As I brought units onto the table they immediately came under fire from the entrenched German defenders. This lead me to having units bunched up in the centre of the table, under fire from three groups of defenders. Not good. I had a Sherman tank (played by a Chaffee in this episode) as Support, mis-read the deployment rules and brought it on the table too far forward. That's OK, Paul's off-board 88mms sent a high velocity hello screaming straight through my side armour and brewed it up. Bye bye Ronson.

My jump off point to the left, under fire from 3 defender units.

Overall, we had a rollicking good game and learnt a lot more about ChOC but still would not consider us experts. The book's layout is challenging and wording somewhat unclear but we will stick at it. In fact, since I lost we get to play this scenario again although this time I get more tanks for support. I must remember to bring them on at the back of the table. And away from those bloody 88s!
Today I was lucky enough to be invited by the father of Aled, one of my fellow Odinian gamers, to his place for a game of General d'Armee. This is another TFL production, this time grand battles in the Napoleonic era.
Dean (Aled's Dad) is a long time Napoleonic player and has a great collection of painted Peninsular figures. We have played General d'Armee together once previously and both enjoyed it. Today Dean and I played the French while Aled and our mate Phil were the stinky Spanish. We had two brigades of infantry and one of cavalry per side.
 Despite a slow start for both sides (just couldn't get the rolls needed to get the troops moving) we soon got into the action. My infantry brigades pushed forward, soon capturing the town in the centre of the table and putting pressure on the Spanish infantry's left flank. Dean then swept in from our right flank, crossed the river and smashed into the Spanish. Mayhem ensued with units dissolving before Aled and Phils' eyes. It looked like it was all over other than the cleaning up. We were mistaken. My absolutely atrocious rolling for any important result (anyone want a 1? I'm your man) combined with Aled's tenacious defence saw the battle swing back in the Spaniards favour. Phil led the Spanish cavalry, previously held in reserve, across the river and started smacking my right flank around. My left flank kept steadily advancing but my awful rolling frittered away a couple of chances. A re-roll wasn't enough to get my Infantry assault going. Fortunately my right flank managed to repulse the Spanish cav, despite the loss of a unit and the pushing back of our cavalry too.

The Spanish Cav pour over the bridge

It was all up to our infantry on the left. The drums beat, cries of Vive l'Empereur filled the air and the infantry columns crashed home into the Spaniards. The centre tussled but the sangria sippers held on. And then it happened, my leftmost unit routed a Spanish unit in melee and the Spanish right flank melted away. Victory to the French!
It was a great game, no one was assured victory until the very end. General d'Armee is a straightforwrd, quick playing set of rules with simple resolution of combat and clear results.
Dean's new wargames room got a big battle christening, we all had a laugh and it was a good day. Thanks Dean for hosting.
Well, so far, so good for my wargaming holiday. Still 4 days to go. who knows what war dolly madness I can get up to before going back to work.

Friends, figures and fun times - can you have too many?

It has been a long time since I put finger to keyboard on this blog. A long time. Life takes twists and turns, the day to day gets in the way but always around are friends, family and the sheer joy of the hobby. I have been thinking a lot of what I have a lot of in my life and conversely what I want more of.
The first is easy; I have a lot of friends and a lot of figures (unpainted of course). What I want more of is time spent with those friends and family, and more of those figures to become painted. I want less figures overall, it's time to streamline the collection into achievable goals. No more buying figures just because they are cool. Are they cool and can be used in an army that is close to finishing? Yes, then come on board!

Alan and Stephen, two of my Odin's Night friends

One of the really positive things in my life over the last couple of years has been the Odin's Night Games Club. Initially invited by the two original members Alan and Paul I have made new friends, caught up more with old ones and had a LOT of laughs along the way.
Meeting on Wednesday nights, initially in Good Games Chatswood but for the past year at the fabulous Willoughby Hotel, we play just about anything that catches our attention. As much as I moan to them about "sticking to one system for a bloody while" I do enjoy exploring all the options that this fabulous hobby offers.
A firm club favourite is anything written by the talented and prolific Daniel Mersey. Lion/Dragon Rampant has probably been the most often played club game. We are now exploring The Men Who Would Be Kings and Pikeman's Lament - much fun to be had.
Dragon Rampant even has encouraged a couple of the Only Historicals Here Mate players to dabble into the madness of building fantasy armies. Welcome to the dork side Alan. I have brushed off a variety of my old Warhammer Fantasy miniatures, along with Chronopia figures and various other Ooh That's Cool purchases and put together several DR armies.
Kings of War is another set of rules that have made an appearance. Although I am currently unconvinced by them I stand ready to play more games and gain a deeper understanding before dismissing them. People I respect like them, there must be something in them I haven't touched on yet.

Dragon Rampant in action on my home table

This year has also seen a health scare that started my self examination of where I sit with my hobby. As much as I love it, the time has come to rationalize a bit. I am no longer succumbing as easily to the cool bargain impulse (although those 25+ 20mm vehicles for $50 I saw today were mighty tempting!) and have started collating and selling my excess. I literally had a moment in March when I thought "Who will deal with my Good Crap pile if I die?". Hopefully that's not a problem anyone will have to deal with soon but I am taking steps to clean up my act.
I'm still buying (particularly books) but focus is the keyword. Any figures are to complete a unit, as long as that completed unit is not an orphan. Playable armies is the goal.
I have been happily sorting and re-sorting my painted miniatures and making up lists of what I need to complete to field whole units. Exploration of the Pile of Unpainted is leading to much going to the Sell pile. I have sold a bit so far, much more to come.
Anyway, that's it for now. It feels good to put down some thoughts again.