French vs. Russo-Prussian 321 Game

Last week I got a first look at my friend Mark’s “321 Napoleonic Fast Play Rules” in action with his French versus Matt’s Russian-Prussian Allied army; each of 1,000 points using the rules’ points system. These rules have the Battalion, Artillery Battery or Cavalry Regiment as the base unit and are designed to be fast play so a game of this size can be finished in 2 hours or so (incl. terrain set-up) by experienced players. They are also however designed to be scalable (so larger games on bigger tables with 70+ units a side or more), and more importantly to also allow historical refights, all with accurate tactics (i.e. no Napoleonic infantry pike phalanxes in these games).

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Eighties Colonial War Game Armies

Following on from my post a few days ago about some photos I had found of a colonial Anglo-Zulu War game in the mid-1980’s, my friend who provided the armies then still has them! And as it turns out recently he had had them out of their storage containers for the first time in a long while to check their condition and do a bit of a review. He even took photos, so with his generosity, here’s some photos of the full 1/72 plastic colonial wargaming army collection we used for games in the mid-1980’s through to the very early-90’s.

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Anglo-Zulu War Eighties Wargame

Recently I dug out some very old photos – some of my very first records of wargaming and they included these Anglo-Zulu War game photos played with my good friend Wayne in the mid-1980’s (probably 1985 or possibly 1986). We used 1/72 ESCI figures primarily (as their 1879 British & Zulu Figures, along with the Crimean War Russian Infantry & Artillery, had just been released). We started out with the Anglo-Zulu war (including a multi-player campaign at one point) and then expanded to the Sudan and the North-West Frontier. However this is possibly one of our very first games, and is from the Anglo-Zulu war.

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Punic Wars Impetvs

Yes, that’s right, had my first crack at the full version of the Impetus Ancient Rules at the weekend with Roundie (Wayne Steward) down at the AWC. I have been meaning to get into these for a while as they have looked promising as I have dabbled with the idea of them off and on over the years… Roundie offered to tutor me in a game and so on Sunday we got stuck in to have a crack at it. Roundie’s been hard at work converting his existing and building new armies for Impetus (or Impetvs as it would actually be written long ago), and his latest are for the Punic Wars, the series of struggles between the Graeco-African empire of Carthage, and the emerging new power that was Republican Rome. Continue reading “Punic Wars Impetvs”

Carolingians, Vikings, Picts, Romans, And More Vikings

Continuing our Dux Bellorum saga from previously back in July the Carolingians had some intense activity for the next week or so – and several outings – this included a 3rd rematch against Roundie’s dreaded Vikings, two battles against Nick’s Picts at the next AWC Meetingpar proeliorumque (a pair of battles) against Mark’s Late Romans, and then the following Thursday a 4th rematch against the Vikings – 6 engagements in 8 days! Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson would have been be impressed! Here’s a brief summary & photos of some of those engagements… Continue reading “Carolingians, Vikings, Picts, Romans, And More Vikings”

Carolingian vs. Viking Rematch No.2

Thursday night Roundie and I had our third Dux Bellorum encounter with Carolingians vs. Vikings – and like last week it turned into another tense struggle that almost went to the wire! Those scurious Vikings once again invaded the Frankish Empire in their quest for plunder and needing seeing too – so Charlemagne, as always, accepted the challenge and met them head on. Continue reading “Carolingian vs. Viking Rematch No.2”

Carolingians vs. Vikings

I’m slowly getting through my Carolingian Army, after a delay to add some additional figures – which has delayed completing the basing and such like. However we are almost there and in the meantime over the last two weeks I have pitted them against Roundie’s Vikings (Land Raiders)! Last weeks combat was a bit of a learning experience, but for this week the Carolingians were a slightly different composition to that which fought Kieran’s Normans back in January. Continue reading “Carolingians vs. Vikings”

Marching On Richmond: The Conclusion

Having broken from their 1864-1865 winter camps the armies headed further into Virginia, the mass of the Union forces always looking to outmanoeuvre the Confederates to expose Richmond and end the war. By late March a decisive battle emerged to conclude the Petersburg Siege, and my forces (General Ulysses P. Rickards) were dispatched to hold vital crossroads to the flank of Five Forks to prevent any last ditched effort to raise the siege by General Longman’s Confederate forces and the balance of General Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia under General Pickett. Continue reading “Marching On Richmond: The Conclusion”

Dux Bellorum With Carolingians

Well I’ve been mucking around for sometime planning to do something for Dux Bellorum – and 12 months or so ago decided to do a Carolingian Army, albeit slightly outside the chronological and geographical period nominally covered by the rules (Arthurian Britain 367 to 793 AD). However I have been wanting to do something nominally ‘Charlemagnian’ in a wargaming context for sometime, so while outside of Britain and slightly late period-wise (768-814 AD) it is very much an army in keeping with Dux Bellorum’s ‘genre‘ and it’s historical opponents are identical or very similar to those found in Britain (e.g. Saxons, Vikings/Danes, and Lombards – only the Moors in Spain won’t easily fit the Dux Bellorum gaming model). And so, to bring in the new year of 2015, and my new Carolingian army’s basing having been completed (partially)  to a level suitable for use, they were christened in an initial outing against Kieran Mahony’s Normans (who at nominally around 970 AD onwards are also a bit out of period for Dux Bellorum). Continue reading “Dux Bellorum With Carolingians”

Marching On Richmond: Winter 1864-65

After the action at Virginia Farm both sides moved into winter quarters, setting up cantonments in Virginia. As Spring 1865 approached and we prepared for the new campaigning season my Division received new reinforcements, and smattering of new recruits. Meanwhile the 2nd New Hampshire, 4th “Magnificent” Maine, and 54th “Unstoppable” Massachusetts (Coloured) were all disbanded due to low numbers and the survivors used to reinforce other regiments – my force therefore was thus: Continue reading “Marching On Richmond: Winter 1864-65”

Printing Action Cards For Longstreet

If you are interested in Longstreet you will know it requires cards to play. There is an official set available from Sam Mustafa with the rules, which requires the action deck for one player, plus all the advanced cards for other features of the (advanced) rules and the campaign. However you do need to have 2 decks of the action cards for a standard game – the official deck will provide you one set for 1 player, plus all the advanced cards you need for both players. So to get a second action deck (assuming your regular opponent(s), or lack of the same, don’t have a set) you can either do as I have done and buy a second official set, or you can just use the lower quality free PDF from Sam’s Website to printout, stick to card, and cut out. Continue reading “Printing Action Cards For Longstreet”

Marching On Richmond: Virginia Farm 1864

As the summer of 1864 dragged on we continued to manoeuvre and fight indecisive engagements with our erstwhile rebel opponents. As Fall approached however we finally cornered the main Confederate Army in Virginia to force a major action to defend Richmond. My Division was engaged near the centre-right of our line, at a place we dubbed “Virginia Farm” where once again we found General Longman’s forces opposing us… Continue reading “Marching On Richmond: Virginia Farm 1864”