Black Powder AWI Petersburg 1781

Got this scenario from a friend reduced the size to introduce a newbie. (Luke had a lot of  fun playing and talked a friend of his to join us for the next game. Again this scenario was very fun hope to do the full thing this Friday and Saturday

Played part of a little scenario (amended) using Queens rangers and a Battalion of Hessian grenadiers as one Brigadeand then 2 battalions of British legion (21) n (18) with attached Cavalry rolled for the cavalry to come on against 2 militia (untested) a skirmishing group of indians and another unit of skirmishers Rebels had 2 light guns. Both Militia rolled 1's for stamina - but good die rolling kept these units on the table a long time

Fire dice reduced the effectiveness of the smaller legion units and i keep forgetting to reduce the melee dice for the cav being only 6 figures (Cav only engaged the artillery at the end.

But it was a fun little scenario (one blunder move - on my part - which saw the Hessian Grenadiers retreat off the table in 2 moves)But the Brigadier brought them back on. And charged forcing the beaten up Militia unit to retreat.

The funniest part was the burning of the farms - 3 failed command rolls resulted in 3 loyalist farms being set to the torch versus 2 rebels farms/church(armory) - Shades if the Mel Gibson movie the Patriot!

Marginal Rebel victory but there store house of Arms and powder ended up being hidden in a loyalist anglican church which was subsequently put to the torch for suspected rebel ties (courtesy of the British Legion infantry.) Tarleton took the Cav on a glorious "hollywood" charge uphill at a light gun stubbornly defended, but sure to be shatteredted the next turn darkness fell as the rebels were forced to retire knowing that Loyalist sympathies had been hurt by indiscriminate Pillaging by British troops,

I think.this will be an excellent game in April. I look forward to playing the whole thing on the 6th of April with my buddies.

Tonights game was a playtest to show someone else (a newbie) the rules and figures - he throughly enjoyed it. I played the British both times next time I will reverse the roles let him enjoy the superior British forces. Pics to follow.

Prussian painting samples

Prussian Silesians

Wild Wild West in the "wilds" of Scotland

Truly an inspired bunch of gamers
http://www.edinburghwargames.com/Journal%2068.htm

More Black Powder Orskany 1777 aagain

Having finally figured out the mechanics for warbands vs Indian Skirmishers/ This AWI action
will see some new militia units and hopefully some mounted and painted Indian's to match My buddy Bill in Scotlands OB. While I prefer our conventions for amenability gaming, I do like the way the weekly club in Edinburgh was organized as well as the hospitality that Hugh and his wife Suzanne showed me at the one Black Powder game I played at his house. Scottish wargamers seem to be much more boisterous and photogenic then folks over here. And you cant beat a hot meal after a great game truly a CLS tradition forgotten in some circles here in the states.

So onto the game for Friday night.
Hopefully two more units of VA Militia
and the 3rd VA line in light blue

For the Loyalist's finishing up the NY unit and perhaps doing Bills invented Imagine-Loyalist Regiment the Loyal NC in Adobe Red coats. Especially since hot weather in the Carolina's would have made the vegetable die fade.

The Game report
Andy and Steven had the British (3 Brigades) vs myself as the commander of the the Rebels.
The following units of One Elite Brigade of Brits, One Tiny unit of cavalry (forgot to subtract dice accordingly for Melee) and an artillery pieces were added to Bill's Orskany OB
One Steady Reliable brigade and two artillery pieces added to the Americans OB
variable Stamina's used for American Militia as well as British Indian Allies and Loyalist Brigade.

Initially the Americans advanced on the left while the British Iroquois's advanced in the center.
Forcing back the one unit of Rebel Indians and confronting and skirmishing against the American Center which was the strongest troops. Both Flanks failed to carry/assist the Center as it drove the British Indian Allies back into the deep woods.

Where the flank of the rear unit was enfiladed by The Highlanders.

The only bad moments were a forced blunder move by the British on the Indians that resulted in a charge and melee And then the Right Elite brigade rolled a blunder move for its far right battalion on a Follow me order. Blunder #5 one move to the right (RIGHT OFF THE  TABLE) that's what happens when you have a Scotsman giving an order to the British Essex battalion (I am so sorry was that command you gave us in English or Gaelic?)

The British Cavalry crushed the skirmishing unit sitting in front of the 1st Militia, then rallied back.

Charged a second time and destroyed the 1st Militia next after 3 rounds of Melee. The 1st Militia got a retire result right off the Table.

Similarly poor performance by the Militia on the left resulted in similar results.

So far the group has decided that these rules are great for AWI but not so great for Napoleonics.

So will start the Carolina Campaign in April with a break out battle out of Charleston as was done several years ago. Every one had a great time. Clearly a British victory.

AWI BLACK POWDER - BATTLE OF ORISKANY 1777

In Tribute to the SEWSC Lads - Might run this game Friday night (albight a slighty different verison and ahistorical) Based off Blenheims to Berlins Blog http://blenheimtoberlin.blogspot.com/2012/02/awi-black-powder-battle-of-oriskany.html

Pics will Follow on a stormy night the Relief column failed to make enough head way as the regulars with the column were overly aggressive and were out flanked by Native American Warbands.
However the 2nd brigade Militia were able to sieze part of the hamlet in vicious fighting.
While the Regulars crushed one Warband to there front. They neglected to fight decisively to their rear
and on a Bloodthirsty Charge with a reroll were sent screaming into the woods running with their scalps intact. The British were more heavily reinforced than had previously been reported nd the hamlet provided sufficient cover for an ambuscade by British forces.
The First Militia Brigade were caught in March column as they attempted to force their way across the bridge by weight of numbers and came up short against Butlers Rangers.
Oh the Onieda Indians had a stamina of 1 when they should have had a stamina of 4 and therefore melted into the woods after an earlier break test failure as per RAW

It was a fun game well worth a continued use of these Fun rules.
Might define Brigades by attributes in the future to avoid confusion.

Next opportunity might be the 16th for a refight.

Thursday Night Black Powder

Well a better game was finished tonight - French assaulting 3 Brigades of Russians in a rear guard action that the French won. Stamina levels of 5 allowed us to work through the rules a little better this time, still a few mistakes. but they are getting. Some ideas about having all infantry and artillery steady for the first break tests perhaps even the second if elite. This allows for units to play a little longer , although my break test rolls would have made better command rolls. We also generally let a side go through its entire phase rolling for command. Finally started using the shaken rules properly. Still shaky on phasing with moving skirmishers next to Enemy Cavalry. I think infantry movement with 12 or 6 inches of enemy cavalry should trigger an out of phase opportunity charge.

Initial success by the Russian Cavalry was depleted as its one large manuever brigade of Infantry was broken by French artillery and Infantry Charges. We had several drawn cavalry melees.

And bombarding a BUA with Horse Artillery just doesnt work.

Canvas Eagles / Blue Max - World War One - Larry Leadhead Website Rules

Canvas Eagles / Blue Max - World War One - Larry Leadhead Website Rules

http://www.eaglesmax.com/eagles_downloads.html

WARNING: Blue Max/Canvas Eagles is a fast paced, easy to learn and highly addictive game.

Blue Max/Canvas Eagles is a fast paced multi-player World War I (1914 - 1918) aerial combat game that is played on a hex game mat. Each game depicts a single dogfight in which each player controls a single aircraft, and attempts to shoot down as many enemy planes as possible without being shot down themselves. There is no limit to the number of players that can play in a single game.



Blue Max/Canvas Eagles is played on a hex grid game mat, with the players, using an aircrfat maneuver chart decide which maneuver their aircraft will perform on the following move. After all players have decided their moves, all the aircraft are moved simultaneously on the game mat. Players can shoot at another plane only if the enemy aircraft is within their fire arc at a maximum distance of 3 hexes. The game rules are very simple with most being contained within the game components used for game play. Referencing the rules manual is rarely necessary. After playing a few games, you can start using the campaign rules, which adds more fun to the game.

Eric Hotz & Phil Hall © 2008

http://www.eaglesmax.com/

Looks like a great site with free downloads for the entire ruleset.
Also from the yahoo discussion group today -
Re: 10 section antennas for sale

"I checked this group today to announce something and found you guys talking about it already. So I'll just reply to this post here. I am modifying my hex flight bases to include a telescoping rod as well. It's a 5 segment with magnet on the end. The flight stand has a built in direction indicator and elevation indicator. I also finished my new magnetic mounts that can be used to indicate yaw, pitch, and roll. We use these to indicate the last turns move for instance a left turn with a climb so you can keep track visually more whats going on and it looks great.

Telescoping rods by themselves will be $3 each. 4" hex flight stands are $9 (I can make 5" if someone is trying to do 72nd scale) Magnetic mounts are $2.50 each for the small 1/144th scale stuff and $4 each for the larger 1/72nd scale ones. So for 1/144th you can have a setup for under $15. I was going to announce the mag mounts but I'm also placing an order for telescoping rods soon so if anyone is interested email me and I can add some to my order."

Mag mounts can be seen here:
http://www.corseceng.com/blog/2010/9/20/universal-magnetic-mounts-are-ready.html

Flight stands here:
http://www.corseceng.com/blog/2010/4/18/canvas-eagles-flight-stands.html

"The mag mounts can be attached to the rods I've worked out easy and secure ways for both sizes."

Jonathan Bowen - CorSec Engineering
http://www.corseceng.com/

Also below is a comparison given by
Eric Hotz between

Blue Max/Canvas Eagles and another Air Game rules set CY6

CY6 is a good game, but I want to play a lot of turns and I want to play a fast game when I play an air combat game. I find CY6 a bit complex. It may be a more accurate simulation of flight, but it sacrifices game speed to achieve it.

I like CY6, and if I had more time, I would play it more. Canvas Eagles is just an easier game to grab and play, and judging by the number of people I saw playing Canvas Eagles vs those playing CY6 at my local club, I'd say a number of people agree with my feelings.

 have played "Check Your 6" WWII and the world war one version has been played at my club. My local club used to field 20+ players for Canvas Eagles games in the past -- this was "usual" for single games. These were big events. I was away from the club for almost two years and expected, upon my return, to see everyone playing the WWI version of CY6. What did I see... I saw 15 people playing Canvas Eagles. I saw my friend Craig playing and I asked him, "Why is no one playing the CY6 WWI version?" He looked at me and said, "We tried it... its way to complicated". I haven't seen the game played since. My local club has 100+ members with between 60 and 80 showing up for game nights. This is one the largest and oldest tabletop gaming clubs in North America

Is Blue Max/Canvas Eagles rubbish? Blue Max and Canvas Eagles do something that no other game I have ever played does. They capture the speed and fury of WWI air combat. They capture the flavour of the period better than any other game I have played. When I played at the club, we would get in between 35 and 55 turns.

The last time I went to my club was last month and there was a 10 player Canvas Eagles game going on. People play Check Your 6 WWII at the club, but its a smaller group. The game of CY6 I played got in about 8 turns in two hours. With Canvas Eagles, this would have been around 20 turns. CY6 is a good game, but very detailed while Canvas Eagles is a more fluid game because the game was designed to move quickly. You sacrifice something for that.

  I could see little difference between it (CY6) and the old Avalon Hill Air Force game.

A friend of mine used to play WWII in Calgary, Canada. He played using wheeled stands. He came over to Vancouver, where I live, for a visit. When he heard I was playing a WWI game that used hexes he laughed and went on and on about what wheeled stands are the best and most accurate way to play WWII or WWI. After he played Canvas Eagles he wanted to know where to get the game. He said it was a great game.

Blue Max was never intended to be an accurate game. When you are playing on 5 inch hexes, and moving two or more hexes at a time, you lose something, but at the same time you gain speed and a very addictive, fun game for all ages.

  It simply can't be beat for its feel and flavour of the period.

Canvas Eagles is also the best convention game I have ever seen,

 especially when using these fluid rules.

So there you have it an unbiased opinion on Canvas Eagles the New Blue Max rules.