The Man Cave

23 December 2017

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you and yours a happy and safe Christmas

Edward the festive Emu

May Santa bring you cool hobby stuff in your stocking!

17 December 2017

Review: The Men Who Would Be Kings

To play with my recently unearthed Anglo Zulu War armies we picked up Osprey's The Men Who Would Be Kings, by Dan Mersey - the same author as our much played Lion and Dragon Rampant.

While the rules are definitely in the same family tree, they are not just a carbon copy but a definite development with adjustments for the period and which reflect not just the improved technologies but the way in which armies were put together and used.

Bottom Line up Front: A lot of Fun, we had a blast. Highly recommended.

The system will be very familiar to Lion/Dragon Rampant players but there are some key nuances which you will likely miss on the first swing (as we did). One of these is that charge moves are not double your normal move, but now the addition of d6 inches. I like the uncertainty this presents as a Commander's decision point.

The moral effects are interesting and disrupting the enemy is all about pins. Pinning the enemy really stops them in their tracks and if you can set up a crossfire to inflict multiple pins they will likely take another turn or two to recover. Of course, if you focus all your firepower on one enemy units to do that, the other enemy units will close in with impunity...

The rules are definitely a simpler system to achieve speed so there are a few abstractions which players need to adjust to - for example, there is no reaction fire, so if your dapper redcoats get caught in the wrong spot they wont be getting a chance to fire a volley from their Martini-Henrys before those Zulus crash into them with those sharp assegais!

To achieve of intent of big battle vice a skirmish game, we adjusted the rules so that units are 3/4 strength from those in the book. Thus, Regular Infantry units are 8 points not 12, Tribal Infantry 12 vice 16 etc. As the ratios remain the same, I do not believe this made any significant impact. We also used one stand (of 3 x 15mm figures) per unit strength vice 1 x 28mm Figure, and thus we were able to achieve a satisfying massed battle look vice it feeling like a skirmish game.

Under our adjusted unit sizes, this is a Regular Infantry unit at full strength with 8 stands of troops plus its Leader

There are also some neat rules for your tribal opponents to play on automatic rules, allowing the humans to play cooperatively and try to survive together; my very favourite way to play colonial games.

Finally, you get 30 different suggestions for different Colonial armies and their foes.
These include the usual Sons of Empire type lists, plus the French in Africa and the Italians in Ethiopia.

Dan Mersey has also published some additional rules on his blog which will be of interest to TMWWBK players: TMWWBK extra rules you may also find this of interest: A little bit about Command & Control in my games

Another cracking and inexpensive offering from Osprey and which deliver a heck of a lot of fun. TMWWBK is the fourth of Dan Mersey's games now on my shelf and I'm sure it will not be my last.

Now I'm thinking about how I might combine TMWWBK and Dragon Rampant to play some VSF colonial gaming on ~~Barsoom~~ Mars...

16 December 2017

Boardgames Day

Dave of our Odin's Night Games club had the team around to his awesome gaming shed for a play date the past weekend - and a great day it was.

We started off playing an old favourite Memoir 44, in the multi-player Overlord configuration which I hadn't tried before. 10 players; on the other table a Stalingrad scenario, on ours a Tobruk game. I really enjoyed the back and forth nature of the battle and our strategy to attrite the Germans eventually delivered an Allied Victory (heavily enabled by my partner's unbelievable dice skills, it must be said). I understand the Soviet defenders prevailed on the other table too.

The Tobruk board laid out ready for action

The Axis commanders

After lunch the other table broke out Robo Rally...

Slowpainter John takes charge of the Robots!

...while we played Blood Rage. I hadn't tried this out before and found it to be a fun game. The minis are just beautiful too. Somehow I managed to jag a beginner's luck Victory on that one too.

And I have to show this pic of Dave's Gaming Emporium. He skipped the Man Cave and went directly to a full barn. Most awesome!

Thanks for a great day everyone and for hosting us Dave!

10 December 2017

Fighting Sail action ahoy!

A squadron of Royal Navy 6th Rates

A fun night last week playing Fighting Sail with Comrade James, Colonel Bish and the Canberra boys.

Admiral Comrade James in action!

I enjoyed the rules, which are quite abstracted when compared to most other Napoleonic naval games. All the usual chain vs grape vs shot options and tracking of hull and crew points etc are all missing. Instead, they are abstracted to enable players to take charge of multiple ships easily without bogging down play.

As a result, I felt like a Commodore fighting a squadron, letting the ship Captains fight their ships. We managed to play a 3 v 3 and a 2 v 2 game all in an evening. Great fun!

Fire as she bears!

A lovely Langton ship under French colours with ratlines and rigging

British Squadron of 3rd Rate Ships of the Line deploy smartly in formation

All these lovely ships belong to the other players, but they have given me some inspiration to break these out during the upcoming painting challenge. Long have they daunted me..