AI is taking over.

 Jimi and Simon asked me to join in a Dead Mans Hand game at the club, I was happy to do so as my wife was having some friends round for dinner. Now before we go any further here is a big reveal, I am impressed with ChatGPT, now I may be coming late to the party here as I usually spurn modern 'rubbish', but it now joins my hobby as a very useful tool. My son uses it for his work and on a whim and a day before the club game I asked it to give me a scenario for a three player game set in the Old West. Up popped an excellent, well thought out game for a shoot out, and what's more it asked if I wanted to print off special cards and did I require a map?

I was like a kid in a candy store, next up was a WWII platoon level scenario then a Seven Years War battle involving three brigades a side, I had such a game coming up on Friday and although I tweaked the robot's forces a tad I went for it.

Firstly though, in the Cowboy game I was once again the Mexicans as there just happened to be a gang from south of the border down Juarez way, the objective was a large crate in the middle of town which had to be grabbed, opened and hauled away. Jimi was a bunch of cutthroats, Simon deserters from the 7th Cavalry, I figured I could take a chance and just run straight for the crate as the troopers were only armed with carbines and had one shot per turn, Jimi was basically hiding from Simon around the Undertakers large house. I had not figured on Simon's deadly dice, he shot Jimi up and then turned on me, Fat Pedro with the shotgun was a big disappointment (again) and he failed to clear the way, quickly my compadres hit the dust joining quite a few of Jimi's men. Jimi and I now hoped that the crate booby trap would blow the Yankees away but it failed and the troopers had the win. A thumbs up for the robot, now if only it could do something for my dice.

At this point I still have some men.

The Seven Years War scenario had a village in the centre of the table and a large hill nearby as objectives, there was early morning fog as both sides groped towards each other, seemed fine to me. Ian arrived having not played Honours of War before and took the French as he was sat next to them as we chatted and had a coffee before starting. I had the edge having played quite a few games and thus knew I would need my artillery to either defend or attack the village as infantry would have a hard job doing it and deployed accordingly, to support this effort I put my best brigade with the grenadiers on their left. My small cavalry force was also on the left, on my right I had two brigades which I hoped would run pell mell for the hill.

French line.

British line.

British army.

French army.

Ian advanced a lot quicker than me and managed to get a brigade up to the village and his Garde de Francais to occupy it. My centre had a dithering commander and I managed to keep throwing an awful lot of one's and found it difficult to coordinate my forces on the right, so then decided to just hold and ready my boys for the French onslaught. I had more success on my left, my artillery were exceptionally good and casualties mounted on the Garde while my grenadiers led my attack on Ian's right, quality won out and after some time the village was evacuated and the French brigade cut to pieces. On my right Ian had pushed his brigades into the teeth of British musketry and for a moment the result could have gone either way, but in the end the steady fire of the redcoats decimated the Irish, Scots, Germans and French opposite them. What happened to the cavalry, the enemy squadron on my left were sent packing and the one on my right never managed to get in on the fight, terrain and circumstances being against them.

The Garde retreats and reforms.

Irish, Scots and Germans move up.

The French left in disarray.

Firefight on British right.

The village is cleared.

 

Once again it was nice to get these troops back on the table, the rules are not complicated and may be too simple for afficionados of the SYW but they suit me. Ian was at a disadvantage this being his first game but I am sure things will play differently next time.

My days are flying past at the moment, my presence seemingly being required here there and eveywhere, or it seems that way at least, it is no fun getting old. Club Tuesday, not sure what I am doing or if I am actually going. The coming week will be busy, three games here in the Bunker, Chain of Command Wednesday and Thursday then a large ACW campaign game on Sunday.

Still plugging away with the Roman cavalry, though due to the rain over the weekend I have managed to get them 85% done, probably finish the riders today and have them all mounted and based in the next couple of days. Next up is the last legionary vexillation, this should complete the army but I have enough odd figures to do another close order unit of auxilliary's or lanciarii, not sure. I have a mad urge to finish off with another cavalry and skirmish unit. We will see how I feel.

I am just catching up with all the map work I have, although a couple of projects still linger unfinished. Next week it is the Royal Irish Regiment in Afghanistan, at the siege of Musa Qal'eh in 2006.

On the subject of books, yep, the Malta fiasco has gone, the actual siege seems to have been an afterthought and not the focus of the book. I am on a political book at the moment but am just about ready to get back to normal, Max Hastings' Sword (beach) is waiting in the wings. It has been a good week also for wargaming publications and having influential friends in the hobby (tongue firmly in cheek). First up was a freebie from Simon Miller, a follow up to the Montrose book, secondly a copy of the new Warlord Italian Wars supplement to their Pike & Shotte rules, delivered personally by the author Charles Singleton, look out for names being dropped. Both of these are excellent productions.

Carnforth at least still has pride in Mr. Churchill, during a 1940's weekend this gentleman was very popular photographers.

&^%*$!

 More about &^%*$! in a mo. Firstly what with all the recent cowboy nonsense and after a game of What a Cowboy I took Dead Man's Hand along last week, it was a three way throw down scenario where two gangs had to steal money from a safe and a third had to stop them. If you are under 30 and easily triggered do not read any further, cultural references and body shaming will be part of the story.

I led El Arana once again, hoping against hope he would come through at last, Jimi had a bunch of Desperados and Simon led the Lazy So and So ranch hands. I sent one of my least experienced men towards Simon's side of the street just to put pressure on him, I also had 'Beaner' in ambush so he could appear anytime, anywhere. Jimi simply sent his men forward eschewing cover, Simon's cowboys, tooled up with rifles opened fire and Jimi's men began to fall, as did my brave but useless cabellero who despite getting close to the stable failed to hit at point blank range and died in a hail of lead. Despite taking losses Jimi managed to get Dumb and Dumber into the bank, however they were so inept it would take four moves to open the safe, The Spider held back waiting for the boys to crack the safe but got into a gunfight in the backyard, Fat Pedro lived up to his reputation and couldn't hit a barn door with his shotgun, as the bullets flew he bit the dust.

"My mistake, more coffins"

 Beaner now turned up in the rear of Simon's men around the Stable, they rushed to take him down, bullets hit everything except Beaner, but sadly he also couldn't hit a barn door. Simon now realised that he just couldn't sit around sniping at people, he actually had to stop the money being taken so a bit late he rushed two men towards the bank. The clunk of the safe was heard opening, Dumb was shot down through the bank windows by Simons late arrivals, The Spider kicked the back door open and entered firing like a mad man but only hit the walls as the customer service people cowered behind desks, in the alley the Mexicans had shot down the last of the Desperados. Dumber, surrounded by enemies squeezed past the surprised hombres at the door and fled, the money bags however slowed him down and he caught several bullets in the back, I still had one man left to go, he sprinted, grabbed the bags and set off. THE END

Everyone has an interest in the bank.

The Spider and his men.

Beaner leads a charmed life.

There we go, an exciting game which came down to the wire on the last move, a lot of fun and laughs which is what is required of such a game, and in my humble opinion, far better than any other cowboy game.

I have had a bit of a break from painting, well a few days at least, what with the heat and real life needing my attention. So I picked up enough to finish an Imperial cavalry unit and start another, this second one is very close to also being finished, it will be on to Landsknecht arquebusiers after that.

Today I ventured to Penrith for a game with Matt, a beautiful day and I am glad the Dungeon is cool. On arriving I found he had set up a hypothetical game in Sicily where some US troops were defending against the Germans, some of whom were Fallschirmjager, and he also had a Tiger I, scary. I had a 75mm Sherman, an M8 Armoured car and a jeep for my main supports. The Jerries had a couple more squads if I recall.

We used the Chain of Command patrol phase and jump off points at the beginning of the game, this worked very well and allowed us to get into action far quicker than a normal Bolt Action game. I kept my tank and MG jeep off the table at the beginning waiting to see where the Tiger would turn up, the rest of my men I lined up in cover where they could and sat back to see what would happen. Matt did not beat about the bush and on came the Tiger heading for my left flank, along with two infantry squads. I moved my HQ team with the bazooka towards the road keeping out of sight of the beast for now. The main German infantry attack with four squads was heading for my right, I was asking a lot of the squad there to stop the Jerries getting the objective but I also sent along a HMG, the M8 and eventually the jeep although it took a couple of turns to arrive. I now brought on the Sherman and sat it in an ambush position to wait on the cat moving, Matt had no qualms and trusted in his armour protection, he moved flank on to the Sherman and the 75mm barked, or tried to as the shell scraped the paint work, the Tiger returned fire and also failed to penetrate.

The Yanks are here.

So are the Krauts.

Lovely table to fight over.

As the turns counted down the troops I had moved into the large courtyard and a two story dwelling were proving a problem for any Germans moving towards my centre and right, the Tiger was needed as support for the attack on the left. It was a new turn and a lovely blue die came out, the Sherman opened up, a six, the shell penetrated, a six, and the Tiger blew up, a six, I really needed to stop moaning about all the ones and twos I had been getting, well that's what I remember. I now moved my central squad over to the left just in time as the poor doughboys there were whittled down and ran away, things were now getting desperate for the Jerries, even though their artillery had taken out my M8.

German left flank attack stalls.

The centre, decisions, decisions.

Tiger!

Now, fire now!

A last gasp assault on my left failed while a thrust towards the centre was dealt with by the men in the courtyard supported by the Sherman, on the right some Fallshirmjager managed to mount the hill on which an objective was sitting but were wiped out by the waiting Americans. THE END.

The tenuous right flank.

Boom!

Now the Sherman has no fear.

The End.

Once again an excellent game at the Dungeon on some lovely terrain with beautiful figures, you cannot beat it. It was also nice if frightening to see a Tiger on the table, although this was surprisingly taken out quickly by a very lucky Sherman crew. I have some holidays coming up and a few other things so I am unsure when Matt and I will meet again, although he seemed keen on some SYW.

&^%*$! now what is that about you ask. Well I had some problems with my drawing tablet as I think I mentioned, I got Alexandra, who put me through hell and decided I had to uninstall/reinstall and delete all sorts of files before my machine would work. I tried but gave up knowing I had a new computer on the way. I got my new machine and ran into a different problem, I got, yes, Alexandra, who again urged me to do all that guff above. Let me talk to someone else as I am not doing that, Benjamin was just as adamant that I had to do what Alexandra was telling me. Get lost says I. Then I remembered something from the distant past (not that easy nowadays) and click, click, problem solved. I told Wacom that Alexandra and Benjamin were useless and could actually have caused me further problems and funnily enough I have not been bombarded with endless emails about 'how did we do?'

Long story short I got a new monitor so that I could continue to use two for my mapping, the new one is super duper, 24 hrs later my second monitor had a black screen, it had died, why me? Oh and of the old monitors that I have only one is compatible with the new PC, lucky white heather? The new computer is magnificent, built by mate Simon, far too powerful for anything I actually need unless Houston gets a problem and needs help and some disk space. Well done Simon.

And we now have our approval to convert the old Post Office back into a room in the house, it cost us oodles of money it should not have done, but hey, here is hoping that by next summer I will have my personal wargaming space up and running. I have boxes of paracetemol at the ready for dealing with the builders.

Projects

 I was still on a high from my game with Mike Jordan last Sunday, leading my favourite army against a worthy opponent is one of the highs of wargaming. War and Conquest like wargaming with WRG back in the day gives me butterflies in my stomach as I hone my choices for the upcoming battle and as both sides deploy. Once the first orders are barked, the die is cast and everything settles down and may lady luck smile on the victors.

The club this week was a throw down game of Dead Man;s Hand, a great little game without the butterflies. Newcomer Jimi has invested in DMH so I set a game up as it had been a few weeks since we had a gunfight. We had a three way off the cuff scenario where a bunch of cowboys were determined to protect the stage carrying their payroll to the Wells Fargo office while two local gangs of Desperado's tried to steal said payroll.

A gunfight erupted between Jimi's guys and Simon's cowboys ensconced in the saloon across from the Wells Fargo office, I manouvered my own men towards the office and tried to keep them all together, apart from Fat Bob who went hunting with his shotgun towards Jimi's end of town, while Pecos Bill sniped away with his rifle from a nearby rooftop. Jimi began to lose the fight as men dropped in the street, his rash attack melted away and he returned to his starting point to seek shelter, I was still slowly walking down Main Street as the stage swept past me and screeched to a halt out side the Wells Fargo office.

 I ignored the stage as time was of the essence and marched my boys up to the saloon containing the cowboys, I had a bad run of cards which meant I had to move first and Simon took advantage of this, but I only lost one man before the whistle went. In the end I still had five men standing, Simon four and Jimi three however the money was still not safe and we needed more time which was not forthcoming. A nice little game but we really need to sort out the scenario and its rules before starting, I wanted to take or attempt to take the stage as it rattled past but I don't think that would have been a popular move. Next week Stuart asked me to help playtest a set of rules he is writing for Battlestar Galactica.

Matt and I have been unable to continue with our campaign this week, so we have penciled in next Friday for the attack on Villeroux. I am still awaiting my Panzer 38(t)s after getting Hetzers sent instead so I painted up all my new Chain of Command tokens. I also started a project which has been eating away at me for some time, Little Wars TV played a Bolt Action scenario based on the St Nazaire raid in 1942 ( here )and I thought I would love to play in something like that, and the only way I could see it happen is if I did it myself.

 I have the table so bought a load of polystyrene sheets to cut the harbour from, these were packing pieces and quite cheap. I duly cut them to size although I had to shave off 12" from the original map as my table is five feet wide and not six, but I deduced that if the Commandos got that far onto the back of the table the Germans would be well beat and the game over. I then needed to paint the tiles and thinking that an acrylic spray would not melt them I blasted away, but yes, they melted. I then scoured the house for old paint and found some which, mixed up I decided would do, I didn't want to spend a fortune on what might be a one off game. Happy with my 'harbour' I decided I needed a few more industrial type buildings, I do have some but not enough, I managed to get some from eBay, two sheds and a factory type building for decent prices, I can sort out everything else. I hope to get the game played early October. I already have a few volunteers for a dangerous mission lined up, should they accept ........................

My son bought Blood Bowl to play with his son, now this game has intrigued me now and again as the club has a very healthy league and everyone seems to enjoy themselves. Having some spare time I have been looking at the game and especially the figures used, I also watched several painting tutorials and was really impressed by the results, I also thought I could do that. For once however I am unsure, I have been close to buying a team and getting the 'official' paints but have not done so yet, I should really try to get a game at the club as it is something which is way out of my comfort zone. Watch this space.

Map projects continue to come in at a lively pace, the campaigns of Charles X of Sweden, the Battle of Lissa, Battle of Hastenbeck, Transylvanian Armies and once again some World War I maps.

Down Mexico Way

 Back into the old routine, Tuesday night and back to the club, it was supposed to be Bolt Action but we had a no show and with some advance warning I went for Deadman's Hand as new club member Jimi had just bought the rules and some figures.

I have far too many terrain pieces for DMH and have mothballed half of them, I would prefer just to sell them but can't muster the enthusiasm, maybe a job for when I retire. Anyway, I set up a small street and we each picked our 'gang', Jimi took Lawmen, Simon Cowboys and I went for my usual Mexicans, these are a bit like my Franks, I just know they will make me proud some day, the Franks at least have turned their reputation around, as for 'El Aranya' and his mob, not yet, but I digress.

We simply went for a last man standing game and we got points for however many guys we sent to Boot Hill. I was nearer to the Lawmen so drifted towards them while leaving a couple of guys in an alley to keep an eye on the Cowboys who had crossed to my side of the street and were moving towards me. Jimi split into two groups, one came for me and one went for the Cowboys. As the first shots rang out I realised The Spider had not turned up with his best men as bullets went wild and hit nothing, however I got most of my men into the bank and behind it ready to pounce on a few Lawmen who had taken an aggressive move towards me.

The quiet streets of Carefree

 My planned assault on the Lawmen fell apart as shot after shot missed spectacularly, only Miguel the sniper was managing to hit anything but only with wounds, no killing shots. The Law hit back and Fat Pedro who I had been lining up to give a shotgun blast at the Gringos hit the floor of the bank as bullets shattered the windows. Nearby my two Vaqueros in the alley behind a fence traded shots with the Cowboys, wounded they held on and gave me hope for some points, sadly it was not to be and they too bit the dust. Having narrowly failed to bring down a bunch of Cowboys I did have some close range success against the Lawmen and got two of them. Time was up and Simon narrowly claimed victory by one point. My shooting had been dire and only offset by the same kind of results coming from the Lawmen, in fact no one had much dice luck in this game but my muchachos really were bad, they still remain in the bad books.

The Spider comes to town

 Next week it is Black Seas and my alter ego 'The Sea Wolf' will be taking to the high seas again to wreak havoc on the French and Spanish and hopefully to gain the admiration and rewards from a grateful country.

If and when I get around to playing the Gembloux Gap campaign with my early war stuff I would need two culverts, you can buy them online but I wasn't keen on the look of them so I decided to make my own, how difficult could it be. I cut some foam for the walls and painted them grey while also sticking some sand to them, I had planned to drybrush these when dry but they turned out just fine so I left them. I then built up the bases with tiling grout leaving a flat channel in the middle, I glued sand all over and painted with brown paint, added static grass and large tufts along with some gloss varnish in the centre for water. I was more than happy with my efforts.

 I have one more terrain itch to scratch and that is a downed aircraft, I have avoided this for a long time but with nothing left on the tray I may not be able to stop myself.

Lady in Green

I thought I would take a break from WWII last night so jumped for a game of Dead Man's Hand, I was offered a place in a Western Desert Battlegroup game which used Andy's vast collection of 20mm but declined. It may come as a shock but I think I am all painted out, I have completed what I wanted and although a couple of things remain they are not yet required, so I am going to take it easy now until the new year, still paint but slower.

Anyway back to last nights game, there were only two of us so within five minutes we came up with the 'Bounty Hunters', a dangerous female killer with a large price on her head was hiding in the town of Carefree and two different groups had decided to find and bring her in, alive and not dead or the bounty was nullified. To search a building at least three men had to enter and a die roll was made, whoever having initiative for that turn rolling first, a 1 or 2 on a D10 signaled success. The posse then had to get the prisoner off the opposite end of the table from the building she was found in.

As the game started four of the seven buildings were found to be empty, soon only two were left, Simon's men found Bella in the Aces High Saloon, a girl of low repute obviously as well as murderous tendencies. I had set up some riflemen on the roof of the Wells Fargo office and another near Halloran's Place while the rest of my gunfighters closed on the saloon, the rest of Simon's men now made a run to meet up with the guys holding Bella as they made for the stables and then hopefully a quick run across town to escape. Although my rifles swept the main street and hit quite a few times they could never get enough wounds to actually kill anyone, Simon was having our usual trouble with shotguns in that despite being fired at close range they never seem to hit anyone, this continued until Fat Pedro bit the dust and dropped his useless weapon.

Time was running out and Bella had manged to be dragged to the Livery while a large gunfight took place at close range just outside, when the dust settled Simon had lost three men and I had lost two. There was still all to play for and at least two more turns were needed to give a clear winner however the clock had struck 10 and we reluctantly packed up.

Although dreamt up on the hoof the game had turned out to be very good and exciting, it definitely needs to be played again. Elsewhere we had the usual Age of Sigmar along with Saga, Bloodbowl and the very nice Western Desert game.

I completed my latest Jump Off Points for Chain of Command a few days back, two German and one Russian, this now gives me three for each force, British, German and Russian. The figure sets are from Rubicon while the two dogs were extras in a Warlord pack, the bulldog is a bit big but hey no point sitting in a drawer. I mentioned before the maps which came in the Rubicon kit, as there were two I used the second on top of some spare fuel tanks for the Russian Marshals. I cannot shake the feeling that the Germans hovering over the map look more like little dolls than wargame figures, Ken without Barbie, I think it is down to the way the hands have been modeled.

The PAK 43 is on the tray and I have a forgotten Russian MMG in the drawer, two more vehicles are on the way but as I said above I am taking it easy with these for now and not rushing.