The Megalomaniac (Mwhaha)

Sunday, 18 May 2014

Sheffield Triples 2014

The annual trip to Triples has been made and I've enjoyed myself and spent the last minute rustled up funds. It was warm in the venue but all the doors were open to give some air circulation. The main thing I noticed was that it was quite quiet. There certainly wasn't a throng of people moving round. The traders I spoke to all said they were having a steady day but not a busy one. One advantage of this is that I got to talk to a lot of people.

The loot:
Doctor Who Miniatures game from Crooked Dice
Vlad's Army cards and tokens from Crooked Dice
Battle Group Barbarossa from Plastic Soldier Company
Weathering paints from Plastic Soldier Company
Hail Caesar Germania supplement from Warlord Games
Full Thrust template form GZG (but made by Figures In Comfort)

Germania was a bonus as I didn't expect this to be out for the show. I also got the free figure. I was very happy. I also picked up another 2 free 15mm Sci Fi figures from GZG, which is slowly getting me in to this scale. I played Gruntz at Hammerhead and enjoyed myself.

So what games did I see in my 4 hours poddling along:

Brompton Bankers put a weird wild west game with great marketing - Gangs of Fractured Jaw .

I liked Osprey style pictures

Fractured Jaw game in mid flow by the Brompton Bankers.

Wings of War WW1 by Wings of Glory Aerodrome

Sails of Glory Wings of War by Wings of Glory Aerodrome

Warhammer 40K city fight by Steel City Wargamers

Flames of War 15mm WW2 by Chesterfield Open Gaming Society

Ripper Street Tong Menace 28mm Pulp using In Her Majesty's Name rules by Chesterfield Open Gaming Society

WW2 20mm German invasion of Ireland by ABW Irregulars

15mm WW1 by Sheffield Occasional Gamers 1916 Muck and Bullets

Brompton Gamers still very busy

A shot to remind by the Chesterfield club were promoting the GCN as well

Dystopian wars by a mystery club as I didn't note them down and they are not in the show program

Penarth and District Wargames Club present Night of the Ninja

Penarth and District Wargames Club present Night of the Ninja using Steve Barber figures

Bruce Weigle's marvellous 6mm St.Quentin Franco Prussian war

A display of 6mm Ancients based for a board game. Romans on the left and Successor on the right. I was amazed how quickly the eye faded out the formalised bases. Green = lights, Blue mediums and Red heavies

The Glory Boys present the Last Samurai a 15mm Meiji Japan game

The Glory Boys present the Last Samurai a 15mm Meiji Japan game. I didn't spot the American flag when I took the photo.

The Glory Boys present the Last Samurai a 15mm Meiji Japan game

Almansa 1707 28mm by Like a Stone Wall club. Great terrain and figures yet again from this club. I also liked the fact they'd reused terrain and some figures from their Carlist War display. The game was sponsored by Ebob miniatures.

Almansa 1707 by Like a Stone Wall club. Great terrain and figures yet again from this club

Alamanza 1707 by Like a Stone Wall club. Great terrain and figures yet again from this club

Almansa 1707 by Like a Stone Wall club. Great terrain and figures yet again from this club

If I've read the plan right and adjusted for people moving this is steampunk horror by MDK gamers or it's a Doncaster club game.

28mm Victorian Scifi gothic game

A time machine

I love the details on the shops and wall

28mm Victorian Scifi gothic game

20mm Very British Civil War game by Rotherham Wargames Society called My Kingdom of a Hearse. Richard III's bones have been found in 1937 while digging a bomb shelter and Yorkist forces have come to get them back. Sunday's game saw the Yorkists trying to break out of Leicester with the bones hidden in one of 3 hearses. Great stuff.

20mm Very British Civil War game by Rotherham Wargames Society called My Kingdom of a Hearse

20mm Very British Civil War game by Rotherham Wargames Society called My Kingdom of a Hearse. The Hunt moves in hounds and all.

20mm Very British Civil War game by Rotherham Wargames Society called My Kingdom of a Hearse

20mm Very British Civil War game by Rotherham Wargames Society called My Kingdom of a Hearse. The Hunt

20mm Very British Civil War game by Rotherham Wargames Society called My Kingdom of a Hearse. Grand Union Canal

20mm Very British Civil War game by Rotherham Wargames Society called My Kingdom of a Hearse

20mm Very British Civil War game by Rotherham Wargames Society called My Kingdom of a Hearse. Mounted police

20mm Very British Civil War game by Rotherham Wargames Society called My Kingdom of a Hearse

20mm Very British Civil War game by Rotherham Wargames Society called My Kingdom of a Hearse. I've spotted an armoured tractor

20mm Very British Civil War game by Rotherham Wargames Society called My Kingdom of a Hearse

20mm Very British Civil War game by Rotherham Wargames Society called My Kingdom of a Hearse. One of the hearses

20mm Very British Civil War game by Rotherham Wargames Society called My Kingdom of a Hearse

20mm Very British Civil War game by Rotherham Wargames Society called My Kingdom of a Hearse. A hearse

20mm Very British Civil War game by Rotherham Wargames Society called My Kingdom of a Hearse. Another hearse and a dummy tank

20mm Very British Civil War game by Rotherham Wargames Society called My Kingdom of a Hearse

20mm Very British Civil War game by Rotherham Wargames Society called My Kingdom of a Hearse. Lots of little details in this game like a bin in a back yard

20mm Very British Civil War game by Rotherham Wargames Society called My Kingdom of a Hearse

6mm SciFi by KB Club

20mm Modern by KB Club

Wargame Developments 5 min game Doodlebuggers

6mm Isandlwana 1879 Anglo Zulu War by Beasts of Bolsover I think

28mm Wild West using Dead Man's Hand rules

pretty

28mm Battle of Zorndorf 1758 by the Ilkley Lads

6mm Command Horizon game by Wargames Emporium

28mm ACW by Ilkley Old Boys using Longstreet rules.

28mm French Indian Wars relief of Fort St. John by Derby Wargames Association

28mm first battle of St.Albans May 22nd 1455 by Mosborough Old Boys. Very friendly bunch and gave me a great run down of the history and the game they were playing. I now want to play War of the Roses!

28mm first battle of St.Albans May 22nd 1455 by Mosborough Old Boys

British Legion Charity Game - 1980s 20mm

28mm WW2 Bolt Action

28mm WW2 raid on an Italian airfield by Leeds Wargames Society

15mm Napoleonic east Prussian game by Company of Veterans

1/35 WW2 Stalingrad by Huntingdon and District. Impressive

1/35 WW2 Stalingrad by Huntingdon and District

28mm Trojan War. Amazons assaulting the walls of Troy. This a view of the citadel

28mm Trojan War. Amazons assaulting the walls of Troy. This a view of the citadel. Great idea for the statue.

28mm Trojan War. Amazons assaulting the walls of Troy. This a view of the citadel

28mm Trojan War.

28mm Trojan War. Amazons assaulting the walls of Troy. This a view of the citadel

28mm Trojan War. Amazons assaulting the walls of Troy.

28mm Trojan War. Amazons assaulting the walls of Troy. This a view of the citadel

28mm Trojan War.

28mm Napoleonic set in the Peninsular

Warhammer 40k Horus Heresy game set in 30k by Barnsley Association of Wargamers

20 or 15mm Rattenkrieg in Stalingrad by Sheffield Occasional Wargamers

Dropship Horizon

Lance and Longbow Society 28mm jousting game

28mm Ancients game

28mm Indian Mutiny by COB Old Boys using Mutineer Miniatures and Black powder rules

28mm Indian Mutiny by COB Old Boys

Competition games

Partizan in a tent

I went to Sheffield Triples and the main buzz among the traders was the news that Kelham Hall was hosting an antique fairs and the show was going in to a marquee. A very big marquee with more floor space than the hall with a floor and lighting. It did make me wonder if this will be the Glastonbury of wargames shows and I'll need to take my wellies. It sounds like it'll be very hot if sunny, muddy if rainy and just right with a mild day. Nor sure how the parking will cope with 2 events on plus they normally have camper as well in the grounds.

Saturday, 17 May 2014

Dead Man's Hand 1st and 2nd game

I eagerly accepted my friends invitation to pop over and play a game of Dead Man's Hand escaping the mess at home. We'd played Warhammer Historical's Legends of the Old West a lot and love it and we were both interested how these rules would compare.

Legends of the Old West has a lot more character and a lot more detail than Dead Man's Hand and naturally is therefore a slower game but richer in atmosphere. For example Legends of the Old West gives your characters special attributes and you have a choice of lots of weapons. Legends of the Old West also caters for campaign play where you can build up the size and strength of you posse/gang etc. Dead Man's Hand I believe is bringing out campaign rules but the core rule book is a fun and fast game of gun fighting (or fisticuffs which we didn't get to try). If you like character you can still create story lines and name your figures but the play is simple. The game uses cards to dictate initiative and cards to create atmosphere by playing the action written on them to affect play and results are decided by dice. As with any good game you still need to think tactically in the movement of your figures but also in the use of your cards to gain maximum advantage.

From the above you can tell I enjoyed myself. We played for an afternoon and got 2 games in with a result.

Game 1 The Stranger
I played the drunk bad men about town against the lone good guy. The scenario dictated that the sides set up 20cm from each other and the terrain needed to be 20cm from them. Quite straight forward we then dealt the cards and followed the turn sequence. The special rules were that my guys had a minus on their shooting I think because they were drunk, this vanished once a character was down.

Both sides line up. The figures are mainly Dixon and the buildings 4Ground

I love the 4Ground hanging platform

The town with no name

My friends spare cowboys in the cantina

My special card that I could play once to affect the game. Once I'd played this I could draw another card from the pack to replace it. This card didn't help as the good guys only had the one guy, so I couldn't swap initiative cards and effect who goes when.

Initiative is decided by drawing a card and placing face up against one of your characters. The highest card goes first then you flip all the cards to see what order everyone plays. This is not a IGOUGO game.

The scenario had the good stranger go first and he moved in the fire at close range

The tokens and measuring stick are from Great Escape games.

The strangers target falls and my guys sober up quick.

They move in and and both blaze away and the stranger is left standing

Depending on character type 4 to 5 hits are required to take a character out. After the first go The stranger had a hit, the local ruffians one down and one with a hit. We forgot we could dodge back 10cm and fire off a quick shot when targeted in expense of a turn.

The stranger plays a card to make it harder for me to hit him with one of my ruffians

I've now lost 2 men and my gun is jammed

So I run to the Marshall's Office for safety

I traded my useless action card for another one at the beginning of the turn and then used it to give my man a double move

I didn't make it and the good gut shot me in the back repeatedly. Game over. The good stranger wins.

Game 2 Revenge
We played the scenarios in the rule book but I can't remember the exact names so my scenario titles just give the gist of the game.

Since the stranger whooped my boys the family return to town looking for some pay back. we got adventurous with 7 figures each. Both sides had a boss, a gunslinger and dudes (the rules phrase not mine). The bosses started in buildings letting their men sort things out, they activated on the death of one of their side.

We had to deploy on 4 groups, 20 cm a part from the opposite side and the boss.

2 of my ruffians moved in to the half made building and drew a bead on the good guts. This game the sides were armed with shotguns, repeating rifles and 6 shooters. These chaps had a guy with a pistol and a guy with a shotgun.

My second group at the other side of town. A rifleman in the Marshall's office and a pistol shooter in the alley

The good guys. Their boss was having breakfast in the building on the right

My boss was in the building bottom right

Cards a played and my chaps scrabble for cover. I have a chap behind some wood with a hit or under fire marker. You can use an action to recover an under fire marker. The chap peaking behind the building is my gunslinger which makes him a good shot. I liked the mechanism that whoever get their cards down first goes first when both sides have the same value initiative card. Towards the end we were positively throwing the cards down.

My chaps having traded shots for a turn rush out when one of my guys go down. The scenario ends when the good guys kill 2 ruffians or the ruffians kill 3 good guys. By running out they get to shoot at close range and the shotgun can use both barrels. Sounds deadly. Both sides repeatedly missed even with the plus 6 to the dice. I did get the good guy an under fire token as you can see.

The good guys boss is their first casualty, revenge for my gunman dead in the alley.

In the background my boss and gunslinger burst out of a building miss lots and survive the good guy with the rifle and the return fire from the goody chaps in the blue building

My boss and gunslinger being fired on by the stranger at the tops of the stairs and an upstanding citizen peeking around the corner.

Meanwhile in the Marshall's office a goody has snuck in the back and fires at my rifleman who snap fires both receiving under fire markers.

Not content with one sneak the goodies bring up another feller.

My gunslinger moves in to close range and hurts his opposite number but doesn't take him out.

My rifleman takes another under fire marker from the pistolier and the shotgun misses with both barrels and needs reloading.

The carnage outside. That's the good guys boss on the duck board

Meanwhile in the street 2 goodies are down and my 3 are still standing. I used actions to reduce my under fire markers to stay in play and keep firing which won the day in down town.

The pictures don't show all the actions but the game cam down to the wire. We actually thought it had finished the turn before in the Marshall's office with the death of the goody pistolier. In the heat of the action we'd applied close range pistol bonuses to my chap, but when I took t he triumphant photos of my victory I spotted the rifle. The pistolier lived and to our surprise so did everyone else in the room when continued the game. The next shootout was my boss and the gunslinger against 2 goodies and the stranger. The stranger was the main target and survived due to his higher number of under fire tokens required to take him out.

The finale was downtown where I had already killed a goody outflanking the building site so I was now 3 on 1. It took all 3 men shooting to take the last man out and a victory and revenge for the ruffians.

Great stuff. We found that the cards with actions added the flavour of the period, where Legends of the West used character attributes. If we'd played this 2nd game using Legends of the West it would have taken us all day (we're not quick) so I liked the speedier pace. Another bit of flavour as I was playing the baddies I could declare I was cheating and gain the initiative by a mechanism I forget. I used it to get the last kill.

It's great to say I played a baddy, cheated and won. All in character!