SAGA!!!!!!!

Went to Barrie's and had a quick game of Saga with Mr Wadsley.  John was learning the system, and Jake was teaching him.  But we John had consistently bad dice, and I had good dice.  John was Vikings.  I was Anglo Danes.  I used by intimidation option to keep his Beserkers constantly behind his army -- when they did get into combat they were fatigued and the combat didn't go well!!!!

Another of Barrie's beautiful tables!

John looking intimidated!!!!!!

The final situation -- Johns warlord is dead, and his archers are looking nervous!!!!!

KK Practice

A practice game for the Kingston Kup.

Rod was German, with a German Herman Goering Infantry list that was just deadly on paper.  However, the practice game showed it lacked maneuverability.  I left the infantry core and picked of the maneuverable components.

Indecision

A game of sword and spear at Rod's place.  The game was supposed to be a WWII combat, but Rod didnt think the game was balanced, so at the last minute he changed to Sword and Spear.

The game resembled Pharsalus -- a small veteran Roman force vs a large raw recruit Roman force.

The table looked great!!!!

Rod had a bathroom break, so I took a few snaps of his great 28's!!!!!!!

It took us a while to remember the rules, but we figured it out.  The forces get close.  On the left, Rod's veteran legions are skirting some rough terrain

Rod in thought.  Note that his veteran legions on the left have split up.

The forces meet.  My raw legions are taking casualties!!!!  But I have a follow up legion.

But my follow up legion wasnt needed.  My raw recruits beat the veterans!!!!!!  Partly helped by the splitting up of Rod's flank, so I managed to double team each of his veteran units.

Sword and Spear is a great game.  But twice we have had armies of crap just walk over veteran armies.  Either we arent doing something right, or there is a balance issue, or thats just plane bad luck.  But it seems to me that a few extra units on the flank allows you to get extra dice, and once that happens you can start rolling up flanks easily.

Aurelian done Right

 

While in Sydney I arranged a game of Aurelian.

Picked up and travelled to the club in style

They have a bar at the club!!!!!!!  (Its in the South Coogee Bowls Club)

There was a great looking game of Bolt Action

A Cigar Box Battle Mat in the flesh!!!.  It looked good, though lots of terrain had to be added over the mat.

Kings of War (a fantasy system)

 

There were all sorts of new rules!!!!

Our game of Aurelian -- Romans vs Sassanids.

 

Aurelian is a card management game.  Our opponent deciding how to respond to our attack.



The end of our game -- The Romans broke through the Sassanid left and pillaged their baggage (which was the grey squares)

 

 

Aurelian is a great system -- each army feels unique, though they all have the same mechanics.  Its the addition of a few army specific cards that change how each army operates.

 

There is a lot of analysis of card play -- do I play my good card now or hold it -- do I play the card for its point value in combat and movement, or for its special effect.  You can spend hours analysing the combinations.  It is a system that rewards multiple playings.  It has one defect -- if your troops are out of the action, you tend to leave them, as you are spending your cards at the point of attack.  In our game, our left flank never moved, and neither did the opposing Sassanid right flank.  Both sides couldn't afford to not spend cards at the decisive point rallying or trying to get that last push to break through.

 

 





Fokkers, Fokkers, everywhere

An evening of WWI dogfights.

First up was a larger dogfight using Wings of Glory.  In a scenario loosely based on the death or the Red Baron, the middle of the table had a Bristol fighter (I didn't have a Camel) being tailed by an Albatross (I didn't have a spare Fokker Triplane).  Two American aircraft come on from one side of the table (I had to use Nieuports, as again I didn't have Sopwith Camels), while two Fokker triplanes come on from the far corner.  I was German, while Rod was Allied.

The Bristol shook the tailing Albatross, while the Americans race to the rescue.  The Albatross pilot was wounded by the Bristol rear gunner.

The Fokkers are slow, and a long way from the action.  Can they get there before the Albatross is shot down?

One of the American planes split off to deal with the Fokkers.

One of the Fokkers is on fire!!!!   Things aren't looking good!!!

The fire is out, but the other Fokker is smoking!

And, all of a sudden, it was over!!!  Both Nieports had been accumulating damage, and suddenly they both went down!  The Fokkers had been badly damaged.  But with just the Bristol left, Rod ran for home.

We then moved on to Blue Max.  Rod was German, and I was US.

Its the old version of Blue max.  It looks rather boring!!

 

Rod is master of the skies.  My planes are suffering.  And Rod got his revenge, as both went down.

We then went back to a quick two planes each Wings of Glory.  A Bristol and a Hanriot vs two Albatross's.

We had a couple of collisions.  One Albatross was damaged badly by a collision with the Hanriot, and then was shot down.  The other Albatross got critical damage and exploded!

 

KK Practice

Rob and I each tried out armies for KK.  Rob was German, with a horde o' tanks!  I was British infantry, with some AT (but not enough AT).  Scenario was Pincer.  Rob overran the foward objective and walked to victory!

Rapid Fire -- nail biting in the Pacific!

It was Rod's turn to host, and he put on a Rapid Fire game.

It was a two phased scenario.  The US marines had to land and get through the beach defences to a village behind the beach.  Then they had to hold on for the counter attack!  I was US, and Rod was Japanese.

The table was spectacular

Rod is looking at the situation

A boring initial deployment.  Line the beach wall and shoot!!!!

The Stuart shot up the dug in Japanese.  And an artillery bombardment destroyed the sole anti-tank gun the Japanese had!

After 3 turns of shooting the marines advanced forward over the dead Japanese.  The whole scenario was a piece of cake!!!!   Or was it ...

Later that night a horde of Japanese came out of the jungle.

The dug in Americans couldnt use their superior firepower at night.

One by one trenches were overrun

With only a few men left plus their tank, the American morale collapsed.

A great, close battle.  It could easily have gone either way!!!