Dux Damaged

On September 5, 2018 By NuadaIn AAR, Dux Dalmor, FantasyLeave a comment

Last night three of us got together for our routine Dux game. Rather than getting through a full month, we instead carried on with a raid that was a result of some clever politicking by Nate. Grontoft, to the north, had earlier been paid tribute to Nate, and the Rovian warrior societies were unhappy and agitating against the leadership of the province. So, after some negotiating, the deal was struck. Nate would wipe out the leadership of the warrior societies and if he did so, would take the land, protect it from the gobblins, and leave the leadership of the province below him intact.

The rumours sent out before we met up confirmed the location and also gave an idea of what the rest of the month would give:

Grontoft
– There have been leadership disputes
– Large number of levies being called up (which is atypical) as many warrior societies have moved south to a town called Mahlen
Greenwood
– Gobblins have been seen moving in the wood but the recent rains have driven them deeper into the wood
Markadal
– Horsemen seen moving south to raid Wegrik
– An envoy from the Unconquered City has arrived with a few guards to discuss something
Athramere
– Is having a large fair. Its troops are protecting travellers to and from the fair.
Olin Dashi
– has a new war leader eager to prove himself in battle. He is, by all accounts, young and seeks glory

The Fight

This fight was interesting and showed some issues with Dux Britanniarum ruleset so most of my time was taken up looking up rules and making rulings. This was exacerbated by me misplacing my good camera so there will be only 1 picture for this one.

The warrior societies gather in the village as the Iron Band forces arrive on scene

The Iron Band arrived in force, leaving only a few levies and their cavalry back to guard their home. The warrior societies set up behind a stout fence in the fields, and guarding the gap in the old walls of the farm. Cavalry faced out towards the woods, but no forces were obvious there. As the Iron Band moved up, they saw undead in the woods and decided to hit the Rovians head on.

Forming their troops into larger formations, the Iron Band moved forward across the front, and here is where we saw some issues. Matt’s Rovian cavalry rode out to get around the advancing forces. Under the rules, it’s impossible to charge cavalry with infantry unless you use a Carpe Diem card. But, if you approach within 4″, you can effectively lock down the cavalry. This means that the cavalry cannot move, and can only sit there or attack. While this 4″ zone of control makes sense when dealing with infantry, the ruleset doesn’t mention cavalry.

Matt negated this discussion by charging out from behind the fence into Nate’s Iron Band forces at the same time that Nate attempted to make it through the broken wall. Here the fight bogged down. Matt lost troops but put so much shock on Nate’s elites that the dice were even. Eventually Matt’s Rovian warriors recoiled from the violence and the blood and Nate was free to concentrate on the other fight.

There, beyond the fence, Matt threw first 2 units, and then a fresh one at Nate’s line, again trading casualties for shock, but this time forcing 2 of Nate’s units off the table before rushing back to cover for the final assault.

Arrows first, then fighting along the fence. At the end, every Rovian warrior-society fighter was dead. Nate lost 17 dead across his units, so will take 3 month to get them all back, but he has kept his word and taken out the Warrior Societies in Grontoft. Now he has to keep both lands safe with his depleted forces.

Another issue with the rules as written, is that shieldwall is more effective for the warriors than for the elites. Warriors are killed on a 5-6 on a d6. Elites on a 6. Formations in shieldwall ignore the first kill of each round. Warriors are twice as likely to receive a kill, and so receive a greater benefit from the formation. It seems that Dux was a great idea (it is elegant in most things) but wasn’t play-tested as well as the other Too Fat Lardies rules (of which I am very fond). What shall we do? Well, we have played Hail Caesar before, but found the game unsuitable for smaller battles and skirmishes. We do have the Shieldwall modifications, and may try that out in the coming weeks (life has meant that the next Dux fight will be in about 2 weeks). If that doesn’t work, we’ll house rule this thing for cavalry, shieldwalls, etc.

Summer Time – Planes, Lane, and back at It

On August 29, 2018 By NuadaIn AAR, Review1 Comment

Another gap in routine posting is over!

My extended family went off to Maui for a reunion and we had a bit of a trip. First there was the individual who decided to steal a Q400 Dash-8 and crash it into Puget Sound the night before we left. That was the plane my family was supposed to be on early the next morning and so we were delayed by a day and a half trying to get flights to line up to Kahalui, Maui.

Once there, it was beautiful.

A view from our lanai (balcony). It was a rough go.

Evening view from our lanai towards the island of Lanai

We had a great first bit which included snorkelling with sea turtles, but sadly Hurricane Lane decided to head towards Hawai’i in the second week. I watched with great interest as its pressure went from 950mb down to 929mb, which is quite the low. Luckily the easterly trades broke up the hurricane into a storm before it really got us, but we were confined to our accommodation for a bit as the winds and water rushed by.

During this time, I played a game that I must mention here. It is an escape room game called Exit, the Game, and it was wonderful. By far the best and most interesting board game I’ve played in years. It’s a cooperative game in which everyone is working at solving puzzles to get more clues with a view to escaping a themed area (in our case a castle). There are logic problems, ciphers, and really neat puzzles. I cannot say enough about how fun it was. The one downside is that each game is only playable once – you actually will be cutting up cards, weaving bits of paper together, tearing apart the box etc in order to get out. The games are about $15 – 20 CAD online, which may seem pricey, but for 4 people to play for an hour or 2, it works out to great value for money. I’ll be posting more about this as my group plays it.

As for the storm impacts, there were high winds and lots of water (and a massive brush fire nearby). Interestingly, as soon as the run-off increased, the water got murky and the sharks popped up right near us just as the shark experts said. Funny that.

This local resident was much more interesting than the sharks, but disappeared before the storm hit:

All in all, it was a good time out and about. I even got a little bit of wargaming done! My uncle, who shall be known as Gruncle on this site hereafter, painted up some Essex Franco-Prussians as a (very kind!) gift, and we duly threw them at each other to learn the nuances of The Men Who Would Be Kings (TMWWBK). It is very similar to Osprey’s other offerings so easy to learn and quite fun, though definitely aimed at a heroic skirmish rather than grand battle style. The artillery is excellent for pinning units, and seems to be most useful in preventing activations rather than its shear damage output. This game would be great fun with varied terrain and some clear objectives.

15mm French enjoying the sunshine having survived the several thousand km trip and customs agents in good shape

As for the gift – they are lovely miniatures, and I’ll be posting more of them here shortly. I do have some 15mm armies, but the focus has been Chain of Command and Dux lately, so they’ve been sitting neglected (if unpainted) or ignored (if painted). The weather here is nice and cool, and the terrible smoke from our forest fires has dissipated (for now), and I hope to get more time moving my 15mms around the table and the Prussians and French will likely be first up in a week or two.

More soon!

Remembrance – The Canadian Corps and Amiens

On August 8, 2018 By NuadaIn RemembranceLeave a comment

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the Second Battle of Amiens, and beginning of the Hundred Day Offensive that closed out the First World War.

At Amiens today, 100,000 Canadians went forward and the following men won VCs:

Lieutenant James Tait of the 78th Battalion, C.E.F. at Amiens, France
Lieutenant Jean Brillant of the 22nd Battalion, C.E.F. at Méharicourt, France
Corporal Harry Miner of the 58th Battalion, C.E.F., near Demuin, France
Corporal Herman Good of the 13th Battalion, C.E.F. near Amiens, France
Private John Croak of the 13th Battalion, C.E.F. near Amiens, France
Private William Milne of the 16th Battalion, C.E.F. at Vimy Ridge

As with the way of things, only Cpl Good survived his actions that day, a hundred years ago. The rest died in the field, some taking a second or third machine gun pit or gun position before finally falling. The heroism shown on the battlefield was the culmination of much training, preparation, and pride. The Canadian Corps with 4 divisions had been fighting together for some time, and they would do amazing things before the Armistice.

From Amiens to the end of the war, the Canadian Corps was responsible for destroying 25% of the German Army. Not 25% of the German Army that was defeated or destroyed during that period, but 25% of the entire German Army in the field. 47 divisions were destroyed or put to flight by the 4 CEF divisions in 100 days, a record that my Grandfather was a part of, (and he would remain in the field until 1919 to see the last of the Germans demobbed). No other Allied formation defeated more Germans in the Hundred Days, pound for pound, than the Canucks. The Germans saw the Canadians as the shock troops of the Allies. Contingents of Canadian troops were even moved around to other areas of the front to convince the Germans that the attack would come there next, such was our reputation.

It was not without cost, and the last 100 days would cost Canada 20% of the total casualties we saw over the entire war. In total 45, 835 casualties were incurred throughout the offensive. Many of infantry regiments still honour the Battle of Amiens, as their progenitors were there. 16th CEF is Victoria’s own Canadian Scottish Regiment (the CScot R). The 22nd CEF is the famous Van Doos (R22R). And so on.

Though we play at battle, the cost of war is terribly high, and those of us who have worn the uniform, or who have family who served, or serve, are aware of the tradition of those who have gone before, and the bravery they showed. We should live our lives more fully, with more immediacy as these peaceable times were not gained without suffering, and loss.

So smile in the sun, and in the shade! Play with your friends and families, and keep doing what you enjoy.

Life is precious.

The Joys of Blogging

On August 8, 2018 By NuadaIn Blogging, WIP, WW2Leave a comment

Well, that’s done.

Some of you may have noticed some certificate errors when trying to read the site. I’ve updated the SSLs with help from Bluehost. Sadly, their security side is as bad as the Bluehost support is good. I was going to post screen-caps of the conversation I had with SiteLink, but I’d rather let sleeping dogs lie and be the better person. In any event, there were no posts for a bit.

But I’m back up and posting!

First off, here’s a glimpse at a major project that we are working on for next year:

There, behind the primed resin vehicles…

That’s right. Aircraft. But which ones?

That’s right. A very obscure aircraft, though it shouldn’t be. It was the primary air drop and glider tug aircraft in the Med and on D-Day for the 6th Airborne Division. There weren’t any models of these on the market anymore, so I worked with a designer at Shapeways at the recommendation of Fitz (from Shouting into the Void in NZ). Some discussions and a few weeks later and the design was ready. Then I had it printed and shipped. It was pretty neat to hold the first 1/100 scale Albermarle in existence (or at least since the Second World War). They are printed in black nylon with good detail. Sadly, some of the turret guns were damaged in transit, but Lucius has fixed them up and primed them already.

Primed with wire for the upper guns. And yes. Taping for invasion stripes

So what are we doing with them? I’ll update you in a bit, but Operation Tonga is a part of it.

In other news,

Some of the resin vehicles are taking shape!

I apologize for the poor picture. My camera is hors de combat right now.

I’m quite happy with the Sherman. The Pz II Luchs gun broke off just as I set up the shot above. The barrel is considerably thinner than the same 20mm on the 222, but c’est la vie. As Fall approaches I hope to have these sorted soon. My Tiger II and Humber are partly primed, but as I ran out of primer, I haven’t coated them in their primary colour yet. My FJs are also (slowly) coming together, but they won’t show their mugs on here until they’re done.

Anyway, it’s nice to be up and blogging again. I really enjoy the act of blogging, and the forcing function to move things along is also useful.

More later!