The Sea Wolf lifts the curse

 I got the chance to play with Rob last night, the first in a while as I have been a wargaming butterfly playing quite a few different periods and people, the club is booming at the moment and we are now taking up two classrooms instead of one. Anyway, Rob had organised a game of Black Seas which I have not played for two years, that was a surprise to me when I looked it up, bloody Covid.

I took the British, James the French and Rob the Spanish. My small squadron of the frigates Achilles (flagship), Ajax and HM Bark Sheraton were sailing to intercept a wrecked vessel loaded with supplies of gunpowder while a French squadron of the same make up were bent on destroying the beached vessel, two small Spanish privateers had also heard of the booty and wanted a share. The French and Spanish made straight for the wreck amongst the shoals while I sent Ajax ahead and turned Achilles and Sheraton to port with the hope of raking the sterns of the French as they manoeuvred to come upon the wreck. The French flagship managed to reach the wreck at the same time as the Spanish and both fired on the beached vessel starting a raging fire, Ajax could do nothing to help but in the true traditions of the Senior Service set battle ensigns and charged into the fray. A deadly broadside caused one privateer to strike her colours, the French flagship having completed her task now turned for the open sea, Ajax now took aim at the second privateer and sent her to the bottom, it would now take time to tack and pursue the enemy.

 Meanwhile the other two French ships seeing the flaming wreck now turned to confront the Sea Wolf and Sheraton in an effort to escape, broadsides crashed out from all vessels but the British gunnery won the day and soon both French ships had struck. Ajax gamely tried to catch the French flagship and managed a few long range shots before her superior speed took her out of harms way. Although the French had completed their objective the British had claimed three prizes and one vessel sunk, the supplies aboard these would more than make up for the loss of powder on the blazing wreck. The captain of the Ajax and the British squadron are building up a terrifying reputation amongst their enemies. There is a rumour of an Earldom in the passages of Whitehall. The engagement had not lasted long so Rob and I took a frigate and bark each for another tussle, once again the Royal Navy won the day as the French bark escaped and the frigate struck.

There was a moment there as Ajax took on three of the enemy and the Achilles seemed to be facing an empty sea where I thought once again this year a defeat was staring me in the face, not that I believe in superstition. But somehow the pendulum swung in my direction and the curse was lifted, the rest of the year now holds no fear win or lose.

 There was a big Napoleonic game organised in Grange last Sunday but I could not attend being away in sunny Darlington for a delayed birthday dinner with my son and his family. I did however manage to get a game of Blood Bowl in, my third since spending the GDP of a small country on it. 

The Coach of the local team was taking no prisoners having lost the last two games to the Lanark Lemmings and brought his first team, the Swamp Boys, to the pitch, the home fans were of course delighted. The Lemmings received the ball in the first half and instead of taking advantage while half the Lizards were on the ground the Lemmings played a cautious game and then lost the ball. The home crowd went wild as their team broke through and made a run for the touchline with nothing to stop them. The applause turned to anger and boos as the Croc played to the crowd instead of scoring, Karma bit him on the tail and the Lemmings managed to foil the scoring attempt in the closing minutes of the first half. As the teams lined up for the second half the Lemmings were down four players, three knocked out and one fatality, the writing was on the wall, the Lizards crashed through in the opening turns and this time took no chances and smashed a touchdown, the fans forgave them, there were several fracas in the crowd between home and away fans. Time however was against us and we had to call a halt early, which is just as well as the Lemmings were heading for a fate far worse than 1-0.

 No matter when I have a coffee break a bus load of customers turns up, it has ever been thus and needless to say it annoys me, it is also never someone wanting a stamp, it is always a problem customer who doesn't know what's in the parcel or it has to go to Camp Polar Bear in the Arctic and will it need a customs label or is hand gel really a liquid while my coffee freezes. I had a bit of a moan, in a friendly way, with Ben who banks the cash from the Old School Brewery in the village and now when they turn up they bring me a lovely cup of Mocha just in case it is coffee break, how nice is that.

 I have had a quiet time with maps over the festive season and what I have worked on were not complex and involved only a few maps, the English in Tangiers in the 17C, battles in India in the 18C and the Jacobites at Preston in 1715. I received two new projects just yesterday, Jagdgeschwader 52 in Hungary 1944-1945 and the Battle of Rossbach 1757.

India.

Preston.

Almost forgot, I am off to Vapnartak in York on Sunday, I have a small shopping list and some figures to pick up from Gripping Beast. I will also take the opportunity to have a look at some Italian Wars bits and pieces. Helion have also managed to get a stand this year so I will be popping in there to have a word with the editors and maybe spend my fiver.

Back to the Club

 I was dithering about going to the club last night, after months of sitting on my bum on a Tuesday night I was curiously loathe to get off it. Mate Stuart then put a post up that he was bringing 'Aliens: Another Glorious Day In The Corps' and had three slots, now this is one of my favourite movies and I had read an interesting review on the game so I was in.

On arrival we all wore masks but these were very quickly dispensed with as the two tables in use were more than the required 3.28 feet apart, which I was very pleased about, plus I suspect we had all had two jabs. The game comes in one of those nice new boxes boardgames come in, with nice art and the contents were all of a very high standard, mountains of cards and tokens along with the superb figures, I noticed two boxes and quickly found out that Stuart as normal now has the original plus all the expansions.

We set up the first scenario which is easy and only comprises four game boards. I will be making references to the movie which I suspect most readers will be familiar with. Anyway, Newt, the annoying little girl was in hiding in the complex and a small team of Marines and Ripley had to find her and get her to safety. I played Jenette Vasquez armed with my M56 smart gun, badass I think is the word in the Corps, alongside her was Gorman, Hicks, Hudson, Ripley and Frost. You choose different weapons and equipment before the mission starts and then each character has their turn, non player characters can be controlled through the chain of command, after this the Aliens get their chance.

 We had a good idea which part of the complex the child was in so we quickly made our way there, Hudson hacked into the computer system and with a stroke of luck identified the girl's location almost immediately, we let Ripley go in first as the Marines would have spooked Newt and she would be off. Again we did well and Newt bonded with Ripley and we then headed for the exit. Now, three turns in think of those hand held scanners in the movie, I couldn't help myself hearing pings as the bug's cards were turned over and I looked nervously at the ceiling, another sound effect we could not help making was when the sliding doors opened, someone would give us a 'pssssshhhh', I think we are stuck with that one. Anyway, the first Aliens died very quickly but as we progressed down the corridor more and more tried to block our way, we tried welding some of the doors shut but they did not hold and the horrors broke through. It was Vasquez's turn to shine, the brrrrrrrpp of the M56 filled the corridor and the bugs hit the gratings. More and more turned up as we arrived within arms reach of safety, but again our favourite Latino saved the day, even Gorman took one down with his pistol. Psssshhhh, as the door closed behind us and the mission was over.

 A good first night back at the club, we had a good laugh mixing the movie with the game and yes, the team had it easy this time but the potential to be overwhelmed in larger games is certainly there, we are continuing next week with the second game of the campaign. The game is run by cards and if you cannot complete your mission before the main deck runs out you fail, you can at times replenish the main deck but of course you then may miss out on something else, it seems complex at first but we all understood it by the end, even me. For the movie buffs, I managed to draw a card which was made for Vasquez, it recreates the scene where she and Gorman set off the explosive and kill themselves and a swarm of bugs, I was desperate and tempted to play the card as the clock ticked down, I could have killed almost everyone on the board, but, maybe next time.

 I have got a PzII and StuH 42 coming from Blitzkrieg, one for 1940-42 and one for '42 on. I was going to add Dragons Portes and Colonials to my French but they only come in platoons, and suffering an attack of commonsense I have ordered some extra LMG's to turn the bog standard infantry into motorised if I want to, oh, and an extra MMG.

And lastly, which is appropriate, I have a little used football shirt for sale.

The Last Seleucids and Club Night

After a long time I have managed to complete my Seleucid army, I got the new Aventine Companion figures last Monday and they went straight on to my 'to do' list once the Celtae Seniores were done. I decided on a slightly muted but uniform look, the pteruges and what shows of the tunics are different colours but the horse furniture and cloaks are all the same, although there is a slight variation in the blue on the horses, believe me it is there. The helmet plumes were the last thing to paint but they looked so perfect in white, I left them alone. I have stopped using spray varnish but as the bulk of the army was spray varnished I continued it with this unit, one coat of gloss, two of matt and then a spray. I also decided that I would keep the wash of Tamiya Smoke until everything was dry, this is what has given the armour a shine, I do love that stuff.

So there we have it, probably my last Ancient army as I turn my sights to the Seven Years War, apart from that extra unit for the Twelfth at some stage, why, because they 'need' it, would I build another, I doubt it but if I ever see a decent range for 3rdC Romans I might be very tempted. I will get the lads out for a photoshoot over the weekend.

Club night last night and I put my name down for a game of Arkham Asylum, Stuart I think has raided a boardgame store recently as he turned up with a magnificent and expensive looking game of Mythical Beasts or some such last week, the playing pieces were simply gorgeous, and big! Imagine my surprise when the game turned out to be Arkham Horror with no sign of Batman, Joker or Penguin. Stuart, Simon and Alex had all played the game before and knew what they were about, I had not a clue. I was told as they grabbed their playing pieces that we needed a Guardian, so I ended up with Michael 'Machine Gun' McGlen, a bit of a bruiser light in the wisdom department, in fact I am surprised he could work a gun.

Before the table got 'busy'.

As we traversed the streets of Arkham of an evening we ran into all sorts of mysterious and foul creatures many of which I sent back to hell. As the game progresses Evil seeps in to the surroundings like rising damp but faster and our job was to stop it, sadly Evil had the upper hand and it got to the point where we had twenty-five minutes to save the world. If the game had been a movie we would have made it, but it wasn't and it was Goodnight Vienna for mankind (or womankind Reg). Some of our resident jokers had a good laugh throughout looking at my blank face as the game progressed, I found it overwhelming and typical of a Fantasy Flight game, there were oodles of cards for all sorts of things, we almost required a table each for all the paraphernalia. I did kind of get the gist by the end of the game but give me a cohort to lead anytime.

Elsewhere we had another fantasy type boardgame which again looked expensive and had loads of lovely plastic playing pieces, Julian and Ryan were chasing each other around a frozen city (Frostgrave) which I am assured I would like and is just like Dead Man's Hand, mmmmm. There was also a Bloodbowl game and a large Battlegroup Normandy game with the 12th SS attacking the Canadians with Andy's lovely vehicles and figures.

It is fairly quite on the map front at the moment as I wait for more AWI maps to turn up, I have finished a small project on the Russo-Japanese War and begun half a dozen for a history of the Zulu.

I intend to complete my pillboxes today then get the SYW artillery ready for painting. Before I forget this lovely sight turned up yesterday afternoon.

PS. Brought the photoshoot for the Seleucids forward, it is too dark, miserable and rainy to do anything else but admire a pile of wee sojers.

Frustration II: Talavera

Rob had deserted us again for Club Night and selfishly taken himself off to enjoy the delights of Naples and the Amalfi Coast, Stuart stepped into the breach and brought an 'epic' Napoleonic boardgame which could supposedly keep eight players in play.

We could only muster four, Ryan and I versus Stuart and Julian, I would be the French CinC. The game is a block game and the rules the same as the American War of Independence series, albeit they are done by a different manufacturer. The battlefield, Talavera, is divided up into three sectors for each side, Left, Centre and Right, you have several cards in your hand which allow you to move troops in these sectors, 2, 3 or more units. These are complimented by what I would call Tactical Cards which can enhance your movement or combat stats or again increase the amount of units you can activate in a turn.

The main problem with this system is that the cards dictate the battle not you, if you do not get Centre cards then your whole centre simply does nothing even if you realise it is now time to put pressure on the enemy. What usually happens is you play towards your initial hand, so if this is attack/probe/move on the Left that is what you do and to try and change this in any meaningful way once the action has started is well nigh impossible, and even should you manage this your cards for the new sector may once again dry up and you are left hanging, having achieved very little.

So how did the battle go, well Ryan commanded my left and we put most of our effort there as we all knew from history that the Spanish on the Allied right should fold under a sustained attack. Our first assault piled up French dead in front of the Spanish line and two redoubts containing artillery, we had to move to get into range and then found ourselves under severe fire before we could build up our attack. I managed to shift two cavalry units left hoping to help while the rest of my army remained supine in their start positions. We threw desperate attacks in on the Redoubts and for a moment drove the enemy out, but only for a moment, we could not get troops up fast enough to take advantage of the gap between the Spaniards and the British. After a while we completely ran out of steam as it was impossible to get reserves up.

As the witching hour approached we managed to get a hand of cards which allowed, at last, my centre and left to go hell for leather at the enemy, we missed out on gaining at least three victory points as the enemy managed to slip away and survive the onslaught, but we had shot our bolt or rather played the last card.

The experience was good and we had a laugh as we traded insults in Spanish or French accents and whistled 'God Save the King' or the 'Marseillaise' as appropriate. Although Stuart and Julian managed to almost get the 15 victory points required for a win and had at least five or so more than we did, I shrugged my shoulders, held up my hands and pointed to the 15 part of the wording with as much sympathy as I could muster. As that old French general said, it may be magnificent but it is not war.

I scrounged about my bits box the other night and found five figures I decided to paint, two Greeks, a Roman woman and two German officers. I also almost spent £50 on some Mexicans I really didn't need, they were from Black Scorpion's Tombstone Kickstarter but instead of the half dozen I wanted I would have had to buy the whole bundle, about eighteen guys, I drew back just in time. I still want to add a few more figures to my Dead Man's Hand stuff so maybe that is how I will fill my time up for now. I have ordered up some MDF sheets as I have decided to base my DMH houses and their boardwalks rather than have them all loose, Alan at Hoka Hey is cutting them for me, I actually have far more buildings than you need for the game.

Right, onwards and upwards, coffee and back to maps, a few city maps of Posen to do today for 'Panzers in the defence of Festung Posen 1945' this involves some city blocks but also having to draw up some plan views for a Tiger, StuG III and JS2, those will be interesting.

Ongoing, North Korea military.

Ongoing, Franco-Prussian War

Target Germany!

I don't seem to have enough hours in the day at the moment, no sooner have I finished two large map projects than I get hit with two more, one being 24 maps and I have not really checked out the other but it is a continuation of a history of the Luftwaffe (third volume) and will be round about the 25 mark if it goes the same way as the other two volumes. The colonial game I have been looking forward to will be next week, so this week I took along a boardgame which Kevin kindly gave me as I professed an interest, Duel in the Dark, set during the RAF's bombing offensive on Germany.

I was very impressed by the games production, a hefty box with a lovely fold up board, none of your card rubbish here along with all sorts of playing pieces, typical German product, which seems a bit strange when you consider the subject. Can we now bring up the war?

The British player gets to see the weather over the continent, then has to choose his target and plot a course to and from his choice, once this is done the German player places his night fighter squadrons and defences i.e. searchlights, flak, radar etc. To help him get to his target the British player has a Pathfinder Mosquito which can run interference for the bomber stream along with lighting up the target in order to get more victory points, it can also attack the defences along the path. Each side gains victory points as the game progresses, attacks by the defenders or defences while the British can engage these and of course successfully bomb the target, these are easy, medium and hard depending on how close to the UK they are. Hit Berlin and call Goering 'Meyer' and you get a whopping 33. You can play the bog standard game or add on all sorts of extras which enhance the whole experience, we played bog standard.

Bomber's Moon.

Simon took the British first and set out for a medium target, Leipzig, I had slipped up here and he choose a city which was defended by, wait for it, a searchlight! I also had trouble intercepting his bomber as my squadrons had to land for fuel quite a bit, I did not expect him to go for a medium target so by the time he landed back in Blighty for ham and eggs he had an excellent score of around twenty something. The first game had taken about an hour and a half after set up. Then it was my turn, I choose Frankfurt as I calculated we had about an hour of play left so I wanted to finish on time, but I also thought a quick raid and back for breakfast. The night fighters this time around were much better and we traded victory points on the way to the target, I managed to bomb successfully but lost a lot of the points due to the heavy defences. The game was much closer this time and Simon won with about five victory points.

One thing I have found out with playing boardgames over the last few months is that it takes two or three games to get a grasp of the depth which all these games promise, I suspect you would have to play them until you got fed up to get the best out of them. I don't mean this in a bad way, but a lot of thought and effort goes into these games and you have to put the time in if you want to do them justice. I am just not sure I am that kind of player as I have many other interests and am still a 'wee sojer' fan at the end of the day.

I have now rebased and flocked all my skirmishers, ever wish you had never started something, but the thought had entered my brain and it had to be done. I could not get the Dark Age guys off their bases and was just about to give up when I hit on the idea of soaking their feet in a tray of water. Sure enough after a couple of hours the MDF had softened as had the PVA glue, sorted, job done. Big game tomorrow, Seleucids vs Republican Romans, looking forward to it.

Before.

After.

Third Crusade And the Tuetoburger Wald

We went from the cold of Russia last week to the scorching sands of Outremer this week. Another block game from Columbia Games (Crusader REX) this time recreating the Third Crusade, the one where Richard the Lionheart turns up, along with some other important Frenchies and Germans. The aim of the game is to win outright by taking all of the main cities i.e. Jerusalem, Antioch, Damascus etc. about seven all in or win by holding the most at the end, it runs from 1187-1192 and there are six turns per year with the last being a winter turn.

It is a very pretty map and the colours of the blocks is fairly striking, orange and green in the main. I took the Saracens and Kevin handled the Christian locals and the Crusaders. After the first turn or so it quickly became obvious that this was Hammer of the Scots but with sand, the mechanics were very much the same as was the playability. You start out with grand ideas and build up some big armies but then find that when winter approaches you have to make a dash for a castle or your troops melt away, so you can run about daft during the 'campaign season' at the beginning of the year but then have to look over your shoulders for castles to garrison over the winter and start withdrawing your men so that you do not lose them. There are some differences of course and castles are crucial in this game, there are not a lot of battles but you can spend a lot of time besieging or storming a city or castle, and as you would expect the advantage lies with the defender. I suppose it does what it says on the tin, it is relatively easy to play once you get used to the rules and it doesn't last forever, about three hours is probably fine after the first couple of games.

How did our game go, well we naturally made some mistakes but by the end we had it off pat I think. I struck hard at Aleppo and Antioch and kicked the locals out, but I didn't realise that the Germans were coming overland and could turn up behind me, so I messed up and let them take back Antioch. However I started taking all the castles in the area and especially the ports so that no more Crusaders could turn up unexpectedly, this was a highly effective strategy and allowed my armies to remain in the field for the start of the next year, albeit spread out. I took Tripoli and just at the last minute I launched a huge assault on Jerusalem, this was a titanic struggle and I came within an ace of taking the Holy City, sadly there are only four combat turns and at the end of this there were two men and a dog on the city walls but I had to cease the attack. No matter, I held four of the prizes while Kevin held three.

I read some fiction about a year or more ago, Harry Sidebottom, and enjoyed them, they had been out some time so I picked them up very cheaply, I have just finished the excellent non-fiction Rome: A City In Seven Sackings, and thought I would like to try some more fiction for a change, somewhere I saw Ben Kane recommended so picked up his three books (all hardback) on the Varus debacle in the Tuetoburger Wald, I got two of them for 1p each. I have been riveted by the story of Centurion Tullus and his nemesis Arminius. I, like most other people no doubt, have always thought of Quinctilius Varus the Roman commander of the three legions wiped out in the forest as an idiot. Kane puts Varus in a different light and shows him as a real man rather than a cipher and a byword for military incompetence, yes he made a mistake and was literally led down the garden path despite being warned, but I felt very sorry for him as his world collapsed around him. And the good thing about enjoying Ben Kane is that he has several other series already out there which I suppose will be available again for a couple of pence.

I have now got my General and officers primed for the Seleucids, this means in effect the army now has enough choices to take to the field up to at least 3,000 points. It is not finished by a long shot though, you know I have a couple of cavalry units still to add, along with Thracians, I have been looking at a 'Late' Seleucid list by a gentleman called Jeff Jonas who is a bit of an expert in Successor armies, so to this end I will also be adding some mercenary hoplites and massed Iranian/Mede archers, alright the latter are the bottom of the barrel but a large number of them cannot be ignored, oh, and a couple of bolt shooters as well, so no hanging the brushes up for a wee while yet.

East and West

A little pressed for time this week, several new map projects and another on Kursk, 1943, this will be the third and it has suddenly dawned on me it is the 75th Anniversary, hence the interest, a couple of the books are from Russian authors and one German, also one of the former may prove to be a tad controversial. No matter I am enjoying drawing these as they are mainly in colour which is no harder than black and white but somehow more rewarding.

Last week my main PC went down again, stop, start stop etc. I have had enough and ordered up a new one as I cannot trust this 'Friday afternoon' job, nothing but trouble since the day I got it, this has hit the Anderson mapping fortune hard what with the new chair, so I am entering a self imposed austerity campaign for the rest of the year. The new PC has just arrived, so a busy afternoon ahead for me.

A few days ago Kevin and I settled down to our second game of Holdfast:Eastern Front, I was the Germans this time. I cocked up the movement for the first two turns but soon got into my stride as we thundered into the Ukraine. As the campaign progressed I decided to head for Leningrad then turn south on Moscow, the winter of 1941 was a tough one on me and I could barely move my forces while the Luftwaffe closed for the winter. With the coming of Spring Army Group North plunged ahead while AG Centre wore down the Russian defences in defending the route to Moscow. By the end of the summer I had Leningrad surrounded and AG Centre could see the spires in the Red capital. However I could not shift the defenders of Leningrad in order to release two Panzer armies to reinforce the push on Moscow, Winter hit and it was obvious I was not going to take two major cities in order to win the campaign. I had made about four or five attacks on Leningrad and got nowhere, with the game over I tossed a pile of dice in disgust at my luck and if we had still been playing the city would have fallen! The winter of 41/42 had delayed me so much along with my stupidity during the first two moves that the Russians managed to get some tough defenders in the city, Kevin will be returning as the German commander in the next game.

Muskets and Tomahawks at the club last night, it was the climactic game in a series of three which began with the ambush of the British forces last year. This time we had a line of British irregular troops trying to stop Indian warbands from making off with their prisoners and booty, once again we each had a unit on either side and to stop any smart moves it was bad news if you met your opposite numbers in battle. I had a bunch of Scots led by the fearless Lt. Fraser Cameron (an ancestor of the brave Lord George Black VC, see Vapnartak report). Cameron advanced and fired on any passing warbands usually causing them to retire back into the forest, during one of these firefights he managed to rescue a young farmer from the savages. My Indians were very aggressive and caused one bunch of Rangers to recoil, this left a gap in the British line and they headed for it, Julian saw this and cunningly moved his men from across the battlefield to foil my plan. I managed to kill some of his men but they wouldn't budge, Ian now brought his Indians into play and I hid mine behind them, Ian moved the Rangers and I followed him across the river, first success for me.

If you got a group off the table you were given another, my second group sprinted down the left hand table edge pursued relentlessly by a bunch of white eyes commanded by Stuart, he would not give up and charged in hoping to destroy my warriors, but it was Stuart who lost and his men ran far enough away to enable me to get my second group of warriors off the table. Lt. Cameron meanwhile had pursued and caught the Indian chief, and although a fine warrior Cameron was deadlier and the brave man fell to a claymore swipe. The chief had been hauling a white woman along who surprised Cameron by lunging at him with a dagger, she was disarmed and set loose again in the forest, the Jocks now took it easy, sauntered back to the road and 'rescued' a wagon of corn and escorted it from the battlefield.

Roger's cosy little camp.

The 'lady' ran and was scooped up by a nearby unit of Rangers, here she joined another rescued damsel and was made a great fuss of by Roger's troops, who now hunkered down, set a fire, prepared a meal and sang a sonnet to the women, all of which gleaned him points from Rob the umpire. My squeals of indignation went unheard. As night fell we counted coup, both Roger and I had 30 points each, a toss of the die came down on my side and I was declared the winner, I don't think anyone lost as the game was great fun. I still feel that I should get troops for this.

Elsewhere we had a boardgame (Julius Ceasar), a Dark Age Saga game, and a Bloodbowl league game, eight of us played Muskets and Tomahawks.

In between everything else I have been getting up early and bedding down late to finish the next unit for the Seleucids, the Galatians. I wasn't too keen on the figures when I got them and was about to waste another £24 at Vapnartak getting Foundry Gauls to mix in, then thought better of it, I am glad I did as the unit has turned out fine, especially with the Little Big Men Transfers which are a delight for these troops. I now have a scythed chariot half done and my last phalanx primed and ready to go. I must slow down though, there is no need to hurry with these troops.

Barbarossa Fails

This afternoon we played Holdfast: Eastern Front at Kevin's, we played the first scenario which meant the Germans had to capture two of the following cities; Moscow, Leningrad or Stalingrad. I took the Russians and Kevin the Germans.

To capture two of these cities the Germans have to burst through the Soviet defences fairly quickly and open out into the rear areas while the Russian player has to try and maintain some kind of front rather than simply be a speed bump. Kevin burst across the border and concentrated on trying to grab Leningrad with Army Group North, I lost several armies in the border battles but could reconstitute them and bring them back as replacements, albeit with diminished capabilities. The German centre and southern groups made only tentative probes against me, while I threw my replacements and reinforcements in the path of AG North, the railway rule was a great help with these movements.

Kevin saw a chance and took it, 4th Panzer Army raced ahead for Leningrad only to have weak but effective Soviet armies cut it off from its supply lines, Stalingrad had come early to this war, I was sure I could hear the screams from the Wolfschanze in East Prussia. At the same time General Winter closed in and the Germans found it very difficult to coordinate their advances while the weather halted the Luftwaffe. Needless to say this was a boon to the defenders.

As the northern attack became bogged down AG South and AG Centre began their operations, the former taking a long time to capture Odessa while the latter was slowed by the Pripet Marshes. I managed a small counterattack in the south which also helped slow down AG South. As the summer of 1942 passed, new, full strength Russian armies began to appear and were used to strengthen the line. With the onset of Winter again about to hit the combatants it became clear the Germans could not succeed in their mission, Uncle Joe gave a sigh of relief.

We got a lot of things wrong during the game but it did come across as quite exciting and although relatively simple, or so we were told, it was again very clever in its mechanics, I especially liked the weather and the way it affected both sides differently. This would be a very good game for a club night, I was impressed and look forward to taking the Germans next week.

I have completed another unit for the Seleucids, this time they are Thureophoroi, a nice light but well armed unit which can operate on the flanks of the army and hopefully protect the phalanx, and if required take the fight to the enemy. I am now working on my Galatian warband, I think these will look good, the shield transfers are especially lovely.

Royal Navy Loses Out

Miserable day again as I walked down to Kevin's for a shot at some naval warfare, it was a quick-play game of Napoleonic period combat entitled Master and Commander, of course it was. The game was fairly simple, a few hex sheets and some nice thick card counters, the only drawback with these is the colours chosen to represent both sides, they look quite similar if you haven't been to Specsavers and the ships can easily be confused. I don't bother much with 'quick-play' as I like to take my time with my games, however I do see the point, this game is very quick and the mechanics are fine if you are not too bothered about reality. The only real bug bear with both of us was that if you wanted to stop your ship instead of having a collision you simply let slip the anchor, but, if you are a naval veteran like me you know that does not bring you to a shuddering, instant halt. Perhaps we got that wrong, there were a few other things but in the interests of fast play you have to ignore them.

In the first conflict I was the Americans and had to escape the clutches of a British squadron, being an old tar I instead tried to engage the enemy, shades of Nelson there, but I failed miserably, you have to be very lucky to get a hit in this game, even if you can see the whites of their eyes. One down to the RN. In the second game I took command of a weak French squadron against a much better British one, we both thought the result would be a foregone conclusion but almost at once I captured one of the Brits and within a short time I had captured the rest of them apart from one I sent to the bottom. Despite having to half some of my crews to take over the captured vessels this had no detrimental effect on the parent ship nor the captive. We tried one more scenario but gave up as the British had no chance of catching the French before they escaped off the 'table'. This left the final action, we both had a decent little fleet and this time it was a fight to the death, the British had to wipe out the French and the Frogs had to counter this by causing more damage to the British. This was a grand little game and I pulled a victory out of the hat for the French.

So there we are, an afternoons fun once again, Kevin now has some 1/4800 ships and this will make the game look a lot better, it is a fine little game for a rainy afternoon but we might have to sort that emergency stop. He is getting a well recommended game for the war on the Eastern Front in WWII, a command and colours block type game, we may have that for next Monday.

I have just completed my two skirmish units, slingers and archers for the new army, I have put them on 25mm bases this time rather than 20mm as the latter slip on slopes, they are not only more stable but they look better. I am once again racing ahead rather than taking my time, I cannot help it, I started a lovely unit of Thorakitai yesterday and expect to finish them by the weekend. These are troops midway between Hoplites and Phalangites, they have armour and carry a long spear as well as javelins and have a large shield, they have not long been released by Aventine and they are lovely, especially the command figures, beautiful.

I am not going to the club tonight, I have some stuff to complete map wise and want to get it off the drawing board and away, I do have a game on Thursday afternoon, this time the Twelfth will be fighting Hannibal rather than the Greeks, I look forward to it.