Skirmish 2019: Second Battle of El Teb, 29th February 1884

Once again I volunteered to put on a game at the Skirmish Show in Sidcup in March last year.

I decided on 28mm again but this time with a colonial theme - the Second Battle of El Teb on 29th February 1884.  Having still not found a set of rules I have been entirely happy with I decided to go a little left field and make some adaptations to the Too Fat Lardies' Sharp Practice black powder set.

Here are a few photos from the game:

Surprisingly enough the rules actually worked quite well and we had a very entertaining game with the Mahdists managing to hold up the square for most of the game but failing to break it.

First Play: Battlestar Galactica - Starship Battles

Having a rather large collection of Star Wars: X-Wing miniatures already I was a little hesitant about buying another SF game based on the same DNA (i.e. Wings of War).  But since I really enjoyed the latest TV version I thought what the hell and picked up the starter set for Battlestar Galactica - Starship Battles from Ares Games.

Here are a few photos from our first game:

Whilst it shares some similarities to X-Wing BSG plays sufficiently differently to justify owning both in my opinion.  The representation of inertia in particular is a great addition and allows the game to have a very different feel to X-Wing.

The models are also very well done with the detailing being incredibly good despite being difficult to even see using the naked eye (or perhaps I am just getting old!):

Dux Britanniarum: Raiding a Border Tower

We thought it had been way too long since we had managed to get the Too Fat Lardies' Dark Ages rules, Dux Britanniarum, to the table so we staged a game at the club a little while ago.  Here are some pictures of a Raid on a Border Tower:

Star Wars Armada

We have been playing a few games of Star Wars:Armada as part of a campaign using The Corellian Conflict expansion.  I am fielding an Imperial Fleet complete with two Victory class Star Destroyers, the Chimera with Grand Admiral Thrawn and a couple of squadrons; however, it has meant not having much in the way of points to spend on anything else!

The Rebels decided to go for more smaller ships and upgrades but once again failed to get behind the Star Destroyers, spread themselves out and and were defeated in detail.  Here are some pics from the game:

First Play: What a Tanker

Having heard good things about the Too Fat Lardies' new tank combat rules, What a Tanker! (WaT), I thought I would give them an outing at the club.  We ended up playing two games and much fun was had.  Here are a few photos of from the games:

Obviously WaT leans more to the game rather than simulation; however, it does make you think and gives you some difficult choices so provides an entertaining experience.  I hope we can get more people interested at the club so we can run some form of campaign.

Death Star Trench Run

Here are some photos of a Star Wars X-Wing game I ran at the club last year:

Lockdown Update

After quite a period of radio silence, many due to having lost my blogging mojo, I've decided to use the lockdown as an opportunity to try to get back into it.  So expect a few posts on games I have played over the last year or so along with current projects.

On the project front I am currently working on the following:

Norway 1940 - the campaign in Norway has been a bit of a backwater from a gaming perspective but given my interest in early war it seemed to have lots going for it.  The main thing that held me back was the lack of suitable figures.  In the end I have chosen to do this one in 28mm using Chain of Command and sourced a mix of Brigade Games, Gorgon Studios and Crusader figures.  The Brigade and Gorgon Studios ones ended up being rather expensive as I had to import them from the States and got caught with the VAT and dreaded handling charge.  I am currently working my way through a platoon each of Gebirgsjäger, Germans in greatcoats, Norwegians and French Foreign Legion with British in greatcoats and Jerkins ready to be sent away for painting when things are back to normal.

Mexican Adventure - another not terribly mainstream war-game project which has had something of a prolonged gestation!  I was originally drawn to this through my interest in the French Foreign Legion (you'll have noticed the connection with the previous project I am sure!) and when a friend of mine was selling off some of his part started projects I picked up his 15mm Freikorps ones for Mexico.  That was over 20 years ago!  The two main reasons (excuses) for the delay were the rather odd mix of figures he had bought (I think he had enough to do the Egyptian battalion man for man!) combined with the lack of a compelling set of rules.  In the end I waited for QRF to add photos to their website (as the figures were not labelled and quite difficult to identify) before picking up a better mix plus finding the Zouave rules.  I now have enough figures for some decent sized engagements in various stages of basing!

WW1 Eastern Front - having completed two Austro Hungarian and one Russian Division for Battles with Brusilov I am in the process of painting up another Russian Division - although this has taken rather a long time so far!

Operation Sealion - this project has been making progress slowly with the focus mainly being on building MDF kits and collecting suitable vehicles.  Once again this is 28mm using Chain of Command (although a larger 15mm collection is slowly coming together as well).  In order to provide some focus I have booked a game in at the club in September - so I had better get cracking!

That's the main few but as you will have gathered I am easily distracted and as I can work full time from home doing the lockdown I am not making the major strides forward that some of my club mates are...