A Year In Gaming - 2020

It's New Years Eve, and that means we're finally about to leave the hellscape that was 2020 for the fresh, unblemished year of 2021!

Thing's can only get better from here, right?

Thanks to Covid-19, I think it's safe to assume that everyone has been playing a lot less games this year, even with so many hobbyists taking to online venues like Tabletop Simulator. That's certainly been the case for me. Here are the game I played this year:

• ADLG - 1
• Battletech - 2
• Bolt Action - 5
• Brother Against Brother - 1
• By Company Into Line - 1
• Cruel Seas - 1
• Domari Nolo - 1
• Dracula's America - 1
• Et Sans Résultat! - 1
• Fistful of Lead: Horse & Musket - 1
• General d'Armee - 1
• Konflikt '47 - 1
• Man O' War - 4
• Middle Earth SBG - 3
• Mordheim - 4
• Muskets & Tomahawks - 1
• Rebels & Patriots - 1
• Red Book of the Elf King - 1
• Triumph! - 1
• Warlords of Erehwon - 3
• WHFB: Renaissance - 1

That's 35 games total, only a little more than half as much as I played in 2019. The pandemic and the subsequent shutdown and social activity restrictions are, obviously, responsible for that. And even with the vaccines, a large part of 2021 will likely also be as difficult to put games together for. 

The shutdown and lack of gaming did, however, give me plenty of time to work on my various projects, and 2020 was definitely one for the record books for my painting progress:

• 10mm Artillery - 12
• 10mm Cavalry - 16
• 10mm Infantry - 528
• 15mm Artillery - 4
• 15mm Cavalry - 2
• 15mm Infantry - 270
• 28mm Artillery - 3
• 28mm Cavalry - 20
• 28mm Infantry - 135
• 28mm Monsters - 4
• 28mm Vehicle - 16
• 6mm Vehicle - 19

Wow! I know I've only been keeping track of my painting tally since 2018 (so that's a five year dark period), but I'm pretty sure that's a record amount of finished miniatures. 

It was also the year of 10mm miniatures, thanks to my work on the ACW project. Even 15mm got some love this year .

Even with so relatively few games played, that doesn't mean they weren't fun to play and great to look at!

Brother Against Brother

By Company Into Line

Cruel Seas

Domari Nolo

Et Sans Résultat!

General d'Armee

Konflikt '47

Man O' War

Mordheim

Muskets & Tomahawks

Rebels & Patriots

Warlords of Erehwon

So here's to a happy new year, and the hope for lots of hobbying in 2021!

Painting Update - Warhammer Fantasy

It's been a bit slow around here, with the holidays coming up and Covid spiking. I've also hit a bit of a slump with painting as well.

After the last game of Warlords of Erehwon, I decided to get back to work on my Orcs & Goblins project. I've only got a few units to work on left, one of which was this group of Orc Boar Riders.

I also picked up a unit of Trolls from Satyr Art Studio, which I found through a Black Friday sales promo. These are fantastic metal miniatures, with lots of life and detail. 

Skirmish in the Sylvan Forest - Warlords of Erehwon AAR

Warlords of Erehwon is a great set of skirmish rules for generic fantasy gaming. It's amazing that Rick Priestly turned a system intended for long-range, sci-fi action into a bloody fantasy melee. 

John hosted a game intended to help those unfamiliar with the rules, and to perhaps get one more game in before the year's end. Brandon and I led the forces of evil with a dread alliance of Orcs, Goblins, and Barbarians. John and Sam combined to command the forces of good, with Olympians (fantasy Greeks) and Nymphs (fairy Elves) defending a series of river crossings. 

The horde of evil rumbled on to the table, with the Greenskins on one flank and Barbarians on the other. 

Arrayed against them were the Olympians and Nymphs.

The horde, with its lower quality troops, had 20 dice while the defenders had 15.  

Also, a good look at John's hobby bunker! It's a dream of mine to have something half as nice as John's space. 

My Orc Warboss lead his Orc warriors and cavalry over the river and into the woods. Unfortunately, we misread the rules for rough terrain and thought any movement through it halved a unit's move speed. It turned out that the unit needs to take an agility test, which for the Orcs was a 50% chance. 

This could have given them a better chance at getting into the fight, but this wing of the forces of evil never really got into combat. 

All of the sections of river that weren't fordable could be crossed, but at the risk of being attacked by a lesser cousin of Charybdis.

Brandon lead the charge against the Olympians with his Barbarians, while my Wizard led my Goblins and artillery in support. 

John's Nymphs were also split. He moved his Hero, Guard and treekin to counter my Orcs, while the rest of his force raced to support Sam's Olympians. 

With only one area to cross the river, most of the combat between the Olympians, Barbarians and Goblins was ranged. Here the forces of evil had a definite advantage, although Sam had a flying unit of Harpies that could throw rocks off the cliff that the waterfall emerged from. 

Brandon's Berserkers and Chariot raced to get across the ford and into the thin line of Olympians, who had left the hoplites at home and had instead brought smaller units of skirmishing cavalry and peltasts. Out-manned, out-gunned, and out-magicked, Sam could only hold on as he watched the Nymph reinforcements race down the river's edge. 

The Berserkers tore apart the unit of Peltasts blocking the river but Sam's Warlord and some supporting fire forced the raving warriors back. Likewise, the Chariot was charged by the Olympian hero and, thanks to a number of pins that was already on it, was destroyed. 

It was the unit of Wolf Riders that first managed to make it out of the woods. Having sprinted to do so (they have a special rule that allows them to sprint four times their 6" move instead of the normal three times) they didn't get a chance to fire their bows at the Nymphs. This allowed the Nymph Guard to charge into the Wolf Riders. 

The combat , however, end in a draw - no casualties on either side! Both sides backed off, with the Goblins nervously looking for their supporting Orcs foot troops. 

With the Olympians close to breaking, the Nymphs finally reached the battle, sending a group of Goblin archers fleeing off the table. However, the elder folk's light armor wasn't effective against the return fire of black-fletched arrows and fireballs!

Unfortunately we had to call the game there as we ran out of time. The group felt that we had gotten a better handle of the rules, and rescheduled for another game in January. There's also talk of a campaign, with the greenskins as the antagonists. 

Painting Update - ACW, Battletech

With Covid-19 cases rising in the area, gaming has slowed down, and unfortuantely my painting enthusiasm has flagged. I'm still chipping away at various armies and projects here and there. 

I finally got back to completing my 10mm ACW project. I had drifted away from it after working on the infantry regiments, and I only had the artillery and limbers to work on. So I pulled them out of storage and focused on them. That's the project complete! 

I may add more brigades over time. It seems like four brigades of four regiments each (and each regiment made up of five bases) makes for a good sized force. At the moment I have half those numbers, so they'd be good for either smaller engagements or for combining with someone else' collection. 

Recently I got my pledge for the BattleTech: Clan Invasion kickstarter, which produced newly redesigned plastic miniatures of older, iconic battlemechs used by the Clans and the Houses of the Inner Sphere.

I've painted my mechs as part of Clan Jade Falcon. 

The Clan Command Star contains a light-class Mist Lynx, and two medium-class mechs, a Shadow Cat and Storm Crow.

Also included are a heavy-class Summoner and an assault-class Dire Wolf.

And I also completed my last lance for my mercenary company! This lance contains two heavy-class mechs - a Warhammer and a Rifleman - a medium-class Phoenix Hawk, and a light-class Wasp. 

On Crueler Tides - Cruel Seas AAR

This past weekend I joined Bill and Sam at John's home for a game of Cruel Seas.

I haven't had much experience with Cruel Seas, apart from one test game back in the Before Time when we could gather for our monthly club meetings. I had, however, seen the rules be somewhat disparaged online. It seems like Bill and John had been tinkering away, especially with the critical hit table, after Bill's smaller boats had riddled John's destroyer in short order.

The scenario was a convoy ambush. The Japanese had two convoys moving through a series of small islands. A Kagero-class destroyer led a small group of Daihatsu-class landing craft, while a Escort Type Hei minesweeper was accompanied by a patrol of Sampan. This was an expanded version of a previous scenario that Bill, Sam, and John had played previously.

Bill and Sam were the Americans in this fight, and controlled a flotilla each of Higgins and Elco boats.

The first game was over fairly quickly. John and I, as the Japanese players, randomly rolled to see where we would start. We ended up over 70" beyond the starting Japanese deployment area, virtually on top of the pre-deployed American boats.

John's starting position almost had him touching Bill's Higgins boats, which halted and opened fire. The small boats mounted apparently massive guns, as the Kagero-class destroyer was riddled. Multiple critical hits added even more to the damage total.

Rather than play out that game, we decided to reset and instead deploy the Japanese flotilla from its starting edge.

 

Thanks to the relatively slow movement of the Japanese ships, the destroyer and the escort crawled on to the table, as did the accompanying troop transports and supply ships. 

With the high speed of the American PT boats, Bill was already able to launch his torpedoes at John's destroyer. 

John's game was going to be less about naval combat and more about how to thread needles as Bill launched wave after wave of torpedos. 

While Sam's approach was only a little more cautious, his plan was the same...

Bracket my ships with torpedos, and then open fire with the "big" guns!

What you can't see here are the looks of discomfort that were plastered on both John's face and my own. The American ships were brutal by the rules of Cruel Seas. While John and I could only throw one or two shots out a turn (the Daihatsus and Sampans were nowhere near close enough to the action to help), the small Higgins and Elcos could fire in support of one another, sending out either four or eight shots each turn! Not to mention that they could also launch torpedos freely up to four times.

Additionally, there was the size difference. Thanks to shooting modifiers, Bill and Sam often needed to roll less than or equal to a 7 on a d10. According to those same modifiers, John and I needed to roll a 3 or less.

Suffice to say that the same only lasted until turn six, when both the Japanese large ships were so damaged that another round of average shooting was going to see a definitive finish. Rather than let the game devolve into a shooting gallery (or even more so!) for Bill and Sam, the American claimed victory once again.

There was some lively debate over the rules. It definitely seemed like critical hits were too easy to generate (just rolling a 6 on a d6, and Bill's boats could easily do that), and that the rules are very much stacked against the large ships, which are slow, massive targets, and under-gunned compared to smaller vessels.

To counter that, we'll be trying the scenario again but the Japanese will have kamikaze boats accompanying them to try and counter the speed and firepower of the American boats. The slow speed of the Sampans and the essentially unarmed Daihatsu leave the larger Japanese ships completely isolated.

Painting Update - Battletech

With the pandemic still ongoing, my old gaming schedule just hasn't been anywhere near what it was last year. So I continue to knock items out of my painting queue. 

I finished another lance to combat the Death Commandos in BattleTech's Alpha Strike rules. For these I used the 8th Crucis Lancers color scheme, who are part of the Federated Suns of House Davion. The smaller mechs in this lance are a medium-class Centurion (the updated omnimech version) and a light-class Crimson Hawk. 

The lance's muscle come from a heavy-class Mad Cat Mk IV (also known as a Savage Wolf) and a Templar III.

Also finished are a lance of Manticores, a 60-ton tank designed to take on mechs. This is the start of a vehicle company that will reinforce my mercenary mech company. 

Painting Update - WWII

 I finally finished a major project!

With the end in sight of the 1939 German Platoon, I pushed on ahead to complete the last few minis. 

These will represent the Hauptmann commanding the various platoon, my infantry platoon's Oberleutnant, and two attending infantrymen.

The invading Germans will also have a medic, a spotter (for mortars, artillery, planes, etc.), and an anti-tank rifle team. 

To round out the support options, I also included a light mortar team and a sniper team. 

And that's that! At least as far as I've planned. I may add another vehicle or two, maybe a Panzer II and IV, or a halftrack to tow a gun. Now we just need to wait for the Poles to coalesce and we can start gaming. 

Painting Update - WWII

 I've been watching paint dry. Now you can too!

I decided to take a break from the mechs to work on the 1939 Germans again. Here's a medium mortar and a medium machine gun to support the infantry.

And I picked up a Panzer 38(t) platoon for my armored force. These were great little kits that painted up quick. 

Instead of the strict "panzer grey" color, I decided to use a grey and dark brown camo mix that was apparently used early in the war, before the Germans moved to just using grey. 

The last vehicle for the platoon is a Kradschützen to act as recon either for the infantry or the tanks. 

Painting Update - WWII, Battletech

Since I'm back to regular work hours, I haven't had as much time to devote to the hobby. But I'm still getting work done!

This Citroen Traction Avant from Rubicon is perfect as a field car for the staff officers that will be commanding during the upcoming Invasion of Poland campaign.

This Opel Blitz will also be in use, either transporting infantry or towing light artillery pieces.

I've also been working on a pair of lances for Battletech's fast playing Alpha Strike ruleset. These are a light-class Eagle and a medium-class Huron Warrior. They're painted as Death Commandos, the elite special force soldiers of the Capellan Confederation. 

The lance's real firepower comes from the heavy-class Lao Hu and the assault-class Lu Wei Bing. 

Rats on a Sinking Ship - Man O' War AAR

While we haven't been able to play Man O' War in a little while, here's a battle report from a game in August. 

For this game, John set me up with a Skaven fleet, to once again face off against the Orcs & Goblins. 

The Skaven have a ton of special rules. The Doombringer, the rat-race's Man O' War, only carries a Great Bell, but it's a very scary ship. The Great Bell starts by rolling 2d6, and then adding a volume counter every turn the bell rings (or removing one when the bell stops tolling for a turn). Each volume counter adds an additional d6 to the Doombringer's attack, which range is equal to the total pips of the dice rolled. Any doubles rolled is a result on a chart, which can range from the Great Bell destroying itself, or every enemy ship in range taking one automatic critical hit!

The other Skaven ships are almost as wacky. Deathburners have a massive burning Incense Burner which smashes enemy ships like a plague-infused mace. And Warp-Raiders belch out columns of warpfire, setting enemy ships aflame. 

John (not the host) and I would control the Skaven, while John (the host) and Steve would control the Orcs & Goblins.

The mission was a smash-and-grab, with the central fort holding five treasure tokens. Ships could dock with the fort and roll to find the treasure.

Also in the game were Chaos Terrain that could damage ships or harm their crews, and a couple random monsters. Out of the deep came the mighty Kraken and the sinuous Gargantuan!

The 3d6 movement speed of the Orc Drillakillas meant they were able to quickly land on the island, get into the fort, and grab the treasure. In short order, the Greenskins were in possession of four of the five tokens, with the Skaven only able to grab one.

The fighting then came down to a close quarters battle. The Doombringer's Great Bell managed to get some hits against the Orc fleet, but broke before it could do any real damage. The MVP of the game was the Kraken. John and I diced for control of the Kraken, and I managed to keep control of it for most of the game.

Its long tentacles swept the decks of the Greenskins ships clean of their crews, which meant John had to move his other ships' crew over to keep the Skaven from claiming the treasure.

(Skaven) John lead his Deathburners in a frontal charge against the Orc Hulk, and between the nasty plague incense and good dice on a boarding action, the Hulk was quickly de-crewed.

In fact, the Orc fleet was looking dangerously low on crew members. Still in possession of four of the treasures, (Orc) John and Steven began backing the Drillakillas out of the danger zone and back towards their board edge.

Three of the Drillakillas were close to escaping, but the Deathburners were in hot pursit.

Fortunately for the Greenskins, two of the Drillakillas managed to escape off the table with their treasure, while the rest of the ships in the fleet were either burning or lacked crew.

The game ended with the Skaven eventually securing three tokens on their ships. However, had we put a time limit on the game, it would have taken far too long for the Skaven to move their tokens off the ship, so the game was decided as a victory for the Orcs!

This scenario inspired John's next game, which which see two fleets attempting to navigate some nasty terrain to get treasure, instead of just rolling up to the fort.

We also decided to allow the Orc Bigchukkas to move and shoot, instead of the move or shoot that the rules allow. This gives the Orcs a little more dependability with a somewhat lackluster overall roster. Although one suggestion from the Man O' War Facebook group was to treat the Bigchukka like the Empire Hellhammer, which can move and fire but has to spend a turn reloading.

Overall, another fun game of Man O' War. Still missing from the game are Flyers and Magic, which John may add in soon.