New Gaming Group

Apologies for the radio silence. I'm really enjoying my job with the Park Service, but the hour and a half to two hour commute (each way) every day, along with some other big life events (like my wedding two weeks ago) have limited my blogging time. Now that things are settling down a bit, I'm hoping to get in a more of a rhythm.

Another reason to expect more listings is the fact that I've formed a new gaming group. At a get-together with some of my wife's colleagues in the area, I discovered that one of the guys played the Lord of the Rings miniatures game back when he was at school and that another was a big fan of strategy boardgames and video games. To these, we added a former co-worker of mine from the Seminary Ridge Museum in Gettysburg. Though none of these guys have played historical miniatures games, they were all very eager. At least for the present, our schedules have not allowed weekly sessions, but we've been able to meet at least semi-regularly, which has allowed me to start introducing them to some of the games in my repetoire.

Our first game, with my new mates Chris and Wes, was the Operation Mutay I scenario from the Operation Enduring Freedom book for Force on Force. I took the role of the insurgents (I find this to be an easier role for experienced players) and had the other guys play the role of the British paras.

The British Paras advance into Now Zad

From the very start, the game did not go my way. The very first TQ check resulted in a Fog of War card which reduced all my units to low supply. On top of that, I failed all of my attempts to spring ambushes the first two turns and, even when I was able to fire, I inflicted no casualties on the enemy until turn 4 (while, as usual, the insurgents were torn apart by the fire of the ISAF troops).

A lone insurgent leader stands firm against the approaching coalition forces

Taliban reinforcements come...too little, too late

Tables began to turn as the Paras neared their final objective. One plucky insurgent leader held off three enemy fireteams in front of the target compound, which bought time for more reinforcements to be rushed to the scene from other hotspots on the battlefield. These new units slowed down the British advance to a near standstill as the game drew closer to its turn limit, and even scored some hits on the enemy, but some exceptional rolling on first aid checks saved the day for my coalition adversaries. By games end, nearly all the Taliban units had been destroyed and the British had only suffered three light wounded (one from mine explosion caused by a fog of war card) and one serious wound and managed to get their entire platoon to the target compound...a resounding victory for the Paras!

The British platoon takes time to reorganize after a hard-fought victory

The next week only Chris could attend, and so I took our small numbers to introduce him to another favorite from my days with the Williamsburg Legati: SAGA. Chris took my Scots, while I played the Anglo-Danes.

Some of Anglo-Danes prepare for battle

I've only played once in the last few years, and I must admit my memory of the game was not as strong as I had hoped. I insisted on using some house rules (involving turn iniative/order and when dice were rolled) from my old club that I apparently misremembered. As a result, we only had a few melees, but all were bloody. Turn 2 saw each side kill three opposing hearthguard, and in turns 3 and 4, we each lost seven warriors. Finally, in turn 5, some Scots hearthguard ganged up on my warlord and killed him, ending the game. Chris picked up the rules and his faction's battleboard quickly and said he really enjoyed the game. We're definitely both looking forward to playing again and the interest in the game has since caused me to start purchasing some other factions. My Footsore Saracens are currently in the post!

Unknowingly, the Anglo-Danes charge into defeat

Since my wedding in mid-October, we've been able to meet once more and tried out a new game. In an effort to help the bookstore where I work part-time and the publisher's we carry, I've agreed to help showcase the soon-to-be-released Wargame the American Civil War and American Revolution books from Helion & Company at the upcoming Fall In! convention. These are the newest in a series of fantastic paper wargaming figures illustrated by Peter Dennis. The books also include basic rules by Andy Callan. To run the demos at the show, Peter was kind enough to mail me his personal set of ACW "paperboys" across the pond. To get some familiarity with the rules, I decided to run a game for Chris.

Some of the initial dispositions

Confederate troops defend a stonewall atop a hill

The rules include a sample scenario for the beginner's rules and three for the regular game, each of which is loosely based on an historical encounter. I set up "1861: Fight for the Hill." The rules were easy, but not overly simplistic and we had a fun game, even though the dice gods were clearly on Chris's side. Rolls of 6s on D6s were automatic hits and Chris's first volley of two dice from his Union infantry resulted in 2 "6"s. The very next turn, we were caught up in a melee in some woods, during which Chris rolled 10 dice and got 4 "6"s and two "5"s, which were also hits. For the first few turns, most of my units refused to move and/or inflicted very little damage to the oncoming Yankees. By turns 3 and 4, Chris's luck began to run out as his advancing infantry stalled and failed to charge up the hill. I was able to drive the Union troops from my right flank, by my own left began to crumble. Turn 5 saw the arrival of reinforcements to the field, with a Union brigade joining the fray, but I had five new units that would be coming on shortly. The battle hung in the balance by the start of Turn 6, but it was getting late, so we called it a draw.

The beginning of a rather brutal fight for the woods

Confederate artillery begins to take its toll on the Federal advance

The US juggernaut begins to waver under withering CS fire

These are admittedly shorter AARs than I'd like to put up here, but these games have just been little teasers for our new group. We'll hopefully start getting some more thorough games going soon (and hopefully our long-awaited debut of Chain of Command).

If you happen to be at Fall-In this weekend, be sure to say "Hey!" at the For the Historian/Casemate booth!

Fall In! 2016

One of the great things about being back on the East Coast, especially the Mid-Atlantic region, is the proximity of the annual conventions run by the Historical Miniature Gaming Society-East. My father and I used to attend these shows regularly when I was growing up (largely for me to play games and buy miniatures and for him to buy second-hand books in the flea market) and so I was eager to drive over to nearby Lancaster, PA this past weekend to attend the group's autumn show, Fall In!

I arrived just before 9 AM on Friday, which provided ample time to pick up my badges from the registration desk and get the lay of the land. Then, it was off to my first game at 10 AM. The conventions theme was "Poland at War", and while there were numerous opportunities to lead Renaissance-era winged hussars or Napoleon's czapka-wearing Vistula Legion into battle, I opted for something a little more familiar - Poles in Normandy.

The story of the 1st Polish Armoured Division at Falaise is the stuff of legend (for more see John Keegan, Six Armies in Normandy). Part of the Free Polish Forces who fought alongside the Western allies (comprised mostly of Polish soldiers who had escaped their country in 1939), these men were flung into battle with their American and British equipment in the latter stages of the Normandy campaign. The Germans were on the run and with the British/Canadian/Polish 21st Army Group advancing from the north and Patton's 3rd Army moving swiftly up from the south, the hope was the complete destruction of the German 7th Army. Though a link between the two Allied advance occurred at the town of Chambois, the Germans fought tenaciously to break free. At Mount Ormel, the Poles were attacked by remnants of 20 German divisions (many of them armored) but held firm. Though roughly 100,000 escaped the "Falaise Pocket", more than 50,000 became prisoners and hundreds of tanks and other vehicles were destroyed.

Unfortunately for me, this scenario would not be replicating the epic fight on Hill 262 where the Poles covered themselves in glory, but rather the meeting engagement between the German 2nd Panzer Division and the Poles' reconnaissance regiment, the 10th Mounted Rifles (equipped with British-made Cromwell tanks). We were using Brazen Chariots WWII Tank Battle Rules, which I had never played, but thankfully the gamemaster, Adam, was the author of the rules, so picking up the key points was not a problem. Adam also happens to live on the other side of Gettysburg, and we've already made plans to meet up for a game session.

My Cromwell tanks prepare to advance

Our advance (my troop are three tanks to the right) just before it bogged down and came under fire

The objective for me and my Polish comrades was simple: drive across the field and get 3 of our Cromwells across the enemy's edge of the table. Sadly, it was not to be as simple as we hoped. Our advance was quickly broken up by a village and rough terrain as we reached the middle of the table and it was about that point that we began taking withering fire from the German Panzer IVs. My tanks fired back one (through two small hedgerows) but did not penetrate the looming enemy tanks. In quick succession two of my crews were quickly knocked unconscious, which made them even more sitting ducks than they had been already. That left one surviving Cromwell for me, which soon found itself outnumbered 7-1. Though the crew passed a morale check on a 20, and thus made it heroic, their gun could simply not match the power of the German weaponry. Before I knew it, all three of my tanks were burning in the fields of France. Some of the other Polish troops managed a little better for a time and we returned the favor by destroying a number of panzers, but it became apparent that we would not reach our objective without help and that our line was in trouble. Thankfully, the Germans had wasted quite a bit of time towards getting to the objective (our edge) and when the time slot for the game ended at 1 PM, Adam announced that we were about where the fighting was historically, just as Allied aircraft were about to arrive to reduce the menacing German tanks to burning hulks. A Pyrrhic victory for the Poles, but as I mentioned earlier, greater glory awaited them down the road.

By the time the game finished up, the vendor hall was open, so I made my way over there and moseyed around a bit. Since I was coming Saturday, I figured I'd just use Friday to plan my purchases for the show. While working my way through the stands it was also nice to catch up with some old friends, including Chris and Steph Bennett of the Phalanx Consortium (https://www.facebook.com/thephalanxconsortium/?fref=ts) and Lon Weiss of Brigade Games (http://brigadegames.3dcartstores.com/). After working through the vendor hall, I made a quick visit to the flea market and then took a casual stroll through the gaming areas. This was the first wargames convention I've ever attended without friends or my dad, which allowed me to wander as I pleased and take as much time in the various areas of the show.

Some attendees getting into the spirit of things in their French-Indochina War game

Some French air support causing havoc for the Viet Minh

When the vendor area closed, I met up with Chris, Steph, and their daughter again for dinner. When I lived in Williamsburg, Chris was the fearless leader of our gaming group and the Bennetts frequently  opened the home, and kitchen, to me as a welcome escape from campus (and, later, my bachelor pad). Chris is also the artistic force behind all my painted scenery and miniatures. During my three years out in California, I only saw Chris twice and Steph once, so catching up with these dear friends was a great way to end the first day of the convention.

The next morning, I left Hanover at the same time and arrived at the show just in time to meet up with my father who had driven down from my hometown of Bethlehem. My dad attended my first wargames show with me (Fall In! 2001) and had tagged along to many more during my grade school and college years. We hadn't been to a show together since 2012 and he was really looking forward to this one (I should note that he isn't much of a gamer, but really enjoys the good deals on books that can be found at the conventions).

We started our day in the vendor area, where I began working through my wishlist. I picked up a new carrying case and storage trays for my new World War II minis from Dave's Baggage Train (http://www.davesbaggagetrain.com/) and the Mixed Ground gaming mat from Cigar Box Battle Store (http://cigarboxbattlestore.bigcartel.com/).  Over in the dealer hall, I picked up some really well-made trees (a wargamer can never have enough of them) and a copy of Lord of the Rings Risk, which I figured I could convince Becca to play.

Since my father isn't always one for in-depth miniatures games, we had not signed up for a formal game, but he had indicated that he was interested in finding some kind of demo to play, so we went back to the Brigade Games stand in the vendor hall, where we played through a turn of the forthcoming World War II skirmish rules, Disposable Heroes 2. I had played the first version of DH at HMGS shows year ago (back when my limited budget meant even a platoon-level game was well out of my price range), and remembered that though I generally liked them, some parts of the rules felt a little clunky (especially regarding vehicles). In any case, our brief playthrough with the author showed how a lot has been streamlined and the game has a very nice flow to it.

One of my MG34 teams taking cover from a shower of French grenades and light machine gun fire

Our scenario was a probe/attack on an objective engagement during the German invasion of France. I had a platoon of German grenadiers, while my dad took command of a basic French infantry platoon defending a small village crossroads. The first few activations saw a pretty vicious duel between my light mortar and my father's VB grenade launchers which claimed half of my platoon HQ, so I brought up a infantry squad in support, which soon began exchanging fire with a French LMG team in a nearby house. Though I was able to force the enemy at the crossroads to occasionally put their heads down, I really was unable to inflict any casualties. Realizing I'd have to find another way to take my objective, I began ordering one of my squads to advance through an orchard on my dad's flank. He soon detected what was going on and brought up a squad of his own to check my attack, but a hailstorm of lead from my section's snap fire sent the Frenchmen running. As our demo turn was coming to a close, my advancing grenadiers seized one of the objectives. A quick, but stress-free game that we picked up after a few goes. My father even said how much he enjoyed it, which says a lot about the game, and how he would enjoy playing it at my house if I picked up the rules.

My flanking section on the way to victory

A rather stunning ACW game we passed

Some Polish winged hussars in a theme game

British gliders feature in a Market-Garden-themed game

A stroll through the tournament section revealed the most creative use of an onion saver I've ever seen!

After our game we strolled through the gaming area and eventually decided to take over a vacant table in the ballroom for a pick-up game of SAGA, which though I have played for years my dad had never tried. Since we set up with a much deeper table than I typically use for the game and were a bit stretched for time, we modified the movement distances to allow our troops to get into combat sooner. My father's Scots and my Anglo-Danes hurled themselves into the fray and by Turn 3, we were in the thick of some intense melees. The first scrap saw a unit of my hearthguard suffer at the excellent dice rolling on behalf of my father's warriors. The balance quickly swung my way the next turn, when my warlord and a group of warriors inflicted serious casualties on a group of Scottish warriors and my Danish axe-armed hearthguard made short work of a unit of Scottish warriors. At the end of the turn, my dad realized that he had to get on the road, so we called it and figured out the my old man beat me by a score of 7 to 6.5. Beginners luck is a real thing!

I walked around a bit more, heading back to the dealer hall to say my goodbyes, and then it was time to hop back in the car and go home. All in all, it was a great little show and I look forward to Cold Wars this March!

By Way of Introduction

Welcome! I've been meaning to start a hobby and history blog for some time now and after a friend asked if I've been doing any writing since leaving graduate school, I figured now was as good a time as any.

But first, a little about me....

I was born and raised on the East Coast of the United States, where I developed a love of history and wargaming. My very first miniatures game was Alternative Armies' fantasy Napoleonic skirmish game, Flintloque (which combined my love of the Sharpe series and Lord of the Rings). Over the next few years, I picked up a variety of rulesets and figures, but never enough to actually get a new game going. It was also around this time that I started getting into historical reenacting. Though the period between the Seven Years War and the American Civil War was always my favorite era in history, I decided to dive into something different and began portraying a Canadian infantryman in World War II.

Me (on the right) with some comrades at the D-Day Ohio reenactment (2014)

That all changed when I went off university and eventually found myself as part of a regular gaming group, The Williamsburg Legati. Before I knew it, I had a large collection of 20mm modern British and Afghan figures for use with Force on Force and Skirmish Sangin, Anglo-Danes and dark age Scots for SAGA, and some Native Americans and Wayne's Legion figures for a brief foray into Muskets & Tomahawks. Having weekly meetings with a great group of gamers definitely spoiled me and I owe a lot to those guys for really getting me into the hobby.

A shot from a Force on Force game we played in Williamsburg back in 2012

All that changed when I headed out to California for a MA/PhD program in 2013. Time and money were both in short supply, and even when I did find gaming buddies they usually lived just far enough away to prevent regular meet-ups. As a result, my hobby went  temporarily by the wayside. Then came my fiancee's relocation for work to my home state of Pennsylvania, which, combined with a number of other factors, convinced me to leave grad school after earning my master's degree and join her back east. So in July we packed up a moving truck and her car with all of our stuff and our 85-pound dog and moved to the historic town of Hanover, PA (just a little east of another small, historic town called Gettysburg).

Me (center of the rear rank) at a Napoleonic Wars reenactment last month

So now I find myself back within an easy drive of some of the country's largest historical wargaming conventions, in the epicenter of reenacting in this country, and with the opportunity to take tons of day trips to historical sites and museums. Oh, and until I can get settled in a full-time job, I'm working at a friend's bookstore which specializes in military history and wargaming. Needless to say, it's a pretty good place to be.

To top it all off, my fiancee, Becca, has been gracious enough to designate the family room of her townhouse as my "man cave/game room." Here it is in all its glory (well, most of it at least; I've since gotten a set of larger tables):

The Zulu shield is a souvenir from my semester abroad in South Africa

This blog has several purposes. For one thing, it will serve as a much needed creative outlet from the monotony of working two retail jobs. It will also allow me to share stories and photos from reenactments and my historically-themed excursions (my California-raised fiancee has not seen much of the East Coast). Most importantly, it will allow me to chronicle my progress on future gaming projects and share after action reports of those games once my plans are realized.

Currently, I'm acquiring miniatures and scenery pieces to run the Scottish Corridor (Operation Epsom) pint-sized campaign for Too Fat Lardies' Chain of Command rules and just picked up a copy of The Men Who Would Be Kings colonial rules published by Osprey, for which I am debating running campaigns for the Transvaal War (1st Anglo-Boer War), Northern War (1st Maori War), or the hypothetical "Pig War Goes Hot", but more on that later.

I'm excited about this new endeavor and look forward to the discussions the posts will facilitate.

Becca and I are planning a trip to Antietam National Battlefield and some boardgaming this weekend, so I'll be sure to have another update soon.

'Til Next Time,

Andrew