Where to start? This game could have made a great Newport Noodle article or made for a good long blow by blow post describing how the rules worked turn by turn and what affect they had on each player decision but that might have been as tedious to read as to write. So I’ll quickly summarize the game in the picture captions while writing the post … Continue reading The Battle for Light Rock Valley
Maybe. What I have been searching for, for some years now, is essentially a game that has the simplicity, ease and speed of play of a stand=a unit games such as Morschauser, Volley & Bayonet, DBA, and the Portable Wargame but with just a little bit more tactical colour to feed the narrative (since I play at lower scales of game and am not terribly … Continue reading A Triumph of Persistence Over Good Sense?
I started to clear the table this morning but it seemed a shame to clear it after a single game so……. Now that my 54’s are back on their Volley & Bayonet/Morschauser style 3″ unit bases, the grid is less useful than it was. I still had the measuring sticks I made a couple of years ago with brightly coloured 3″ segments. It is easy … Continue reading As long as I’m there…
I was stoked for the first game but with each stand being a unit, there were too many units on the table for the mechanisms to flow well and keep up interest and excitement in the game so something had to change. #2: An old chestnut of a scenario and improvised basing but a brisk game. After rejecting various options as too “gamey” and abstract … Continue reading The Wheels Are Still Turning
Had a delightful time playing the game this morning, a game both enjoyable and useful. They came on in the old style. I also have a half written blog post, mostly about rules and games and choices and preferences and the like. Hopefully we’ll see what I make of it but right now, I’m off to bed. Continue reading While We’re Waiting
In many ways, the War of 1812 makes an ideal setting for Old School wargames. Well, unless you want massed cavalry charges and huge armies that is. However, like a lot of Old School games with single figures, the logistics of setting up and clearing away are considerable and the games themselves can take a full afternoon or evening to reach a conclusion so they … Continue reading The War of 1812 in a Box
A key Principle of War. Don’t let yourself be distracted by details or put the plan above the mission. I brought my coffee upstairs this morning and looked at the table covered in disorder markers which tended to blend in with the units. What was the Aim again? Two turns later, with modified rules in play, a Reb unit has punched their way through the … Continue reading Maintenance of the Aim or Adjusting the Plan.
Two weeks from today I leave for Huzzah!. While I could pack up and go tomorrow, there is still a lot I’d like to do to get ready and it looks like the next week at least will be ideal for much needed yardwork and gardening. Two expected down days have been compromised by unexpected domestic duties. There has been some time to work on … Continue reading A Work in Progress but Time is Running Out
Back in the 70’s there was a set of Quick Play Napoleonic rules published in Gene McCoy’s Wargamer’s Digest which was a bit of a shock to a young gamer deep into WRG and indoctrinated in the importance of scale and detail. I forget the author and details of the rules but I remember the aim including something like being “close enough to smell the … Continue reading Review, Revise, Re-engage
It had to be tried. The Grand Experiment grinds to a halt as the list of unresolved rules questions begins to grow exponentially. I had previously tried a similar approach using the Square Brigadier but this was going to be less abstract and enable me to fight reasonable recreations of small historical actions like the Battles of Ridgeway and Cut Knife Creek. It took nearly … Continue reading Well, I did have my doubts BUT…..
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